Mysterious Ways God Works...

SO my brother and sis-n-law got these cute adorable kitties! Apollo and Starbuck (no not coffee and greek god like i thought...). Poor Apollo had something similar to pink eye at three in the morning. Being the new parents they are and worried for their lil one, they took him to the kitty ER for antibiotics. Apollo looks better now, I saw him on video chat. (and starbuck too... theyre so cute!) Coming home after 6 in the morning, my brother decided to take the day off of work since he could work straight from home. Turns out he made a very wise decision. Sounds a lil off, right? But don't worry... God has his plans.
My brother takes a metro home instead of driving home because metros are a lot easier than dealing with parking, towing, yatti yatti yatta. The time and metro he was supposed to be on seemed to have an accident today, killing 9 people. When you least expect it, God saves your life. He saved my brother from any injuries or death today, and I truly, deeply thank him for that.

If you want to know more about the accident... heres the link.
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1702179

A Special Shout Out...

A SPECIAL SHOUT OUT GOES TO...

COLE!!!

Thanks for sharin your house with me this week buddy! You make a wonderful host! Keep up with your soda bar! You'll make a killin off of it one day! Hopefully I will see you again soon, come up any time you'd like! Be nice to your brother, it will make things a little easier for your parents. ;) Love ya, buddy!

PaPa

So last I heard, Papa is doing a lot better. Less tubes are in him and hes starting back on reegular foods. Still gets pain meds though, but then again who wouldnt be after heart surgery. Hopefully he'll be out either tomorrow or the next day! they havent said yet for sure, but maybe theyve said today. A lot of people have gone to see him and Mema stays the nights with him so he wont be lonely. Everything should be fine now, he's healing quickly and nothing seems to be wrong. :) until next time!

PaPa

So today my grandpa had heart surgery, replacing his mitral valve with one from a pig (i thought that was kinda sick, but w/e works!) and they were gonna use a robot who was doing it. If youve ever seen greys anatomy, it was prob like that kind of robot. I didnt go to the hospital today because everyone knows me + hospitals never work out very well. But ill prob go either tomorrow or the next day. They said he was swollen up some and had a vent tube down his throat .... he can only breathe some. So keep him in your prayers, and ill update y'all on more when i find more out! Keep the lovez goin!

Butterflies in Tummy

Graduation is tomorrow night! It's really nerve racking because of everything that is happening at once! Everything is changing and none of us really know what we're being thrown into once we let go of our caps and let it fly through the air. 150 students (and some teachers) will be wearing AH stickers on our caps in memory of Anthony Hill who died earlier in May his senior year. Black letters will be worn by people who knew him (or at least the ones who got the stickers... they ran out quick!) and the purple letterings will be worn by his closest friends. It's really nerve racking to think about everything that will happen after tomorrow night once i walk off that stage. It's like oh heres this awesome paper that says good luck as we shove you out into the real world... enjoy and make sure you send emails on your progress! If you've ever seen a puppy getting shoved towards a bunch of great danes to "play", then you know exactly how most of us feel about graduation now. *gulp*

Spoons- to the extreme!

SPOONS (the card game)

Now if you've been to school the last couple of days where there is absolutely nothing to do, usually you watch a movie or play some type of game- in our case card games. There's different types of games to play: poker, spoons, bullcrap, crazy eights, war, etc. The game we have played for the last couple of days is spoons. If you havent played, get a group of your friends and play then. All you need is spoons (plastic suggested, it can get wild) and a deck of cards. The object? To not be the person without a spoon. How to play? four cards are delt to each player, and the spoons are placed in the middle so everyone can reach them. Count how many players you have, then count out that many spoons and take out one spoon so there are less spoons than there are people. Let the game begin! The dealer has the deck of cards in front of him/her. They start the game by picking up the top card, seeing if they need it or not and if they dont then pass it to the person next to you. If you do need it, then exchange it for one you dont need. Before anyone can start getting spoons, one person has to have four of the same number/face (for example {my favorite} have all four aces). Once one person grabs a spoon, the spoons are free game and anyone can grab one spoon. That's usually when it gets a little violent if you have friends like mine who will not be the one without a spoon. Usually when we play, spoons become broken and they are still used which causes blood. Also, you have the people who love to leap across the table to get the spoon on the other end from where they are sitting...cough cough Matt... Once you become good at this game, the faster it goes and the sneakier you can be with it. Most times (especially when having a new player) you can silently grab a spoon while people think you are just reaching for a card. Sometimes you can do that and keep on playing without saying a word and about ten minutes later people start to count the spoons and realize there's less there than what should be there.

Now, extreme spoons is very similar- though I have not had the chance yet to play I probably will sometime this summer when we can be somewhere where there's nothing breakable around. Otto was telling us about it at lunch while we were playing a round of spoons with about nine other people... it wasnt violent at all - kinda sad- but mostly because they were new to the game. It's played the same way except for one tiny thing. The group who's playing is sitting on one side of the room while the spoons are all the way at the other end. Once someone got their four cards, they would run over to grab a spoon. When they get up, everyone else realizes they have their four and go after the spoons. Hince the name , extreme spoons. If anyone tries it or has played it before, let me know how it goes! I'm curious now on how well it goes!

GRADUATION!!!!!!!

So after high school is over with and I'm outta that place, it will be time for my summer to begin. Vacations are already planned to head home for awhile and see what is down there. College starts up in the fall and I'm already thinking about switching majors... yeah yeah i know, i havent even been in class yet and im already thinking of changing lol. I would say I have it all planned out, but i dont- so i wont. I think this is the first year im not going to camp or something like that... unless you count my trip as a camp but im still around family so i wouldnt. Plus my whole day wouldnt be planned out for me for every minute of that day- that gets really annoying after awhile. So we shall see how this trip goes, and i will be blogging about it... if i can find some internet down there... my lap top is wireless but i dont have one of those card things for it yet... should work on that... ♥z!

So yes, the blogging for Maz's class has officially ended and graduation is just around the corner. Next Thursday, actually...now that I think about it. WOOOT! lol. So anywho, my blog will continue just not as a grade and I am making it into more of my blog minus the history lesson of the week stuff in it. Have fun reading it, comments are a must, and enjoy your summer b/c you'll never know when it shall be your last. ♥z.

The Final Blog :'(

I cannot believe graduation is just around the corner, it seems like this year has gone by in a blink of an eye! Although I am happy to see summer come, I'm sad to see the school year go with friends going different places and leaving all the great teachers at the high school. This year I took a leap in some of my classes, I gave up my normal classes and went for something more challenging because frankly I was starting to get bored in regular history class. All it basically was was notes, worksheet, test, repeat with the occasional projects. Although we did that in AP history as well, but it was more educational. We learned what people during that time really thought, what really happened, we really got into it. Plus going the speed we were going really helps you prepare yourself for college when you're listening to a lecture. Taking notes and knowing what's important and what are just fun facts is a skill that I developed while taking this class. And also, when someone writes something on the board, it better be in your notes also. I found out that my strengths are projects, especially when its on a topic that i love. For example, my power point on Jack the Ripper was diffidently one of my favorite projects I did for this class. My weakness however is public speaking. Ever since I was little it has been my weakness. It doesn't matter if I know everyone in the room or if I don't, I'm just not very good at it, which may be a reason why I became a dancer- no words necessary. Another weakness I have is test taking. I went to Sylvan Learning Center for almost two years, I was making progress but my test scores were a little lower than when I started going there (which was totally weird...). So to make up for my weaknesses, especially testing, I try to do my best on every other grade I have for that class and do extra credit whenever possible, it helped me out a lot sometimes. Overall, I think I made a good/wise choice when I scheduled this class my junior year because I believe it really preped me for college and I had a good time taking this class. Sure, some days were overwhelming with all my other classes and stuff going on outside of class, but in the end it was all worth it. Listening and understanding reasons, political issues, or why war broke out really helps me understand it better when i hear the details of it and how somethings in history will always be a mystery. Like Jack the Ripper, we only have suspects... no one actually 100% knows who he was. In a way, I wish I could drag Maz with me to college because I love the way she teaches and makes sure we all understand it but also makes it fun for us. A lot of memories were made during this class and many lessons that will stick with me hopefully for a very long time.

Meeting of the Minds Day is just around the corner...

Tomorrow is our "dry run" of our meeting of the minds in preparation for Tuesday, which will be the real deal. Some of the questions to be answered by Corday are a little tougher than others, but I will try to answer them as Corday would even though the limited amount of information there is on her. Corday is one of my favorite people we have learned about this year because when something was going wrong in her country, she did not rely on others to do something about it. She took matters into her own hands and settled it, even though I'm sure she could have settled it in another way. Women then were more "behind the curtain" and would usually not take matters into their own hands, but Corday knew what she needed to do and went through with it. Not only did she stop Marat from giving out lists of names, she also made people realize how inhumane the guillotine actually was, which also eventually led to the end of its usage. Hopefully tomorrow will go well and everyone will do a good job.

Question for meeting of the minds...

Is America an imperialist country? Why? (Corday's answer)

Many countries became imperialist countries by taking over countries in Africa, just as France, Germany, and Great Britain. They took the country, because it could not say 'no' to them since their country was not as strong to defend itself, and made it into a country with similar laws, religions, way of work, etc. basically to make money off of them. These countries were forcing their ways onto these people. After awhile they even began to fight over who was getting what country, and they would use the countries that they already took over to fight so less of their own people would die.
Now in America today, some may believe that their current situation with Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan is America being imperialist onto them. I, however, do not believe that it is because if you think about what made them go over there in the first place and what started the war was because of America's September 11, 2001. Terrorists attacked them without any warning at all, America went over to stop being attacked and to save its own people. They are attempting to create a better life style for the people in these countries and yes, they got rid of their leader but only because he was the one who authorized the attacks to begin with. America may seem imperialist, but truly it is not.

Charlotte Corday

<--Jean-Paul Marat

This week in Maz's class, we are preparing for our meeting of the minds conversation and everyone has a different character from history. My character is Charlotte Corday, who died during the French Revolution, but not for reasons that you may think. She was not killed during battle, but was executed by the guillotine. Jean-Paul Marat was a person who wrote down lists of names of people to be executed, and the government thought his reasons for listing the following names should indeed be executed, so they were. Corday realized this was a killing spree of her own people that the government was allowing, so she took matters into her own hands. Preparing herself mentally, she decided that the only way this would end was if Marat died. She made a list of names, and scheduled an appointment with Marat to share her list of names he could use. Accepting her offer, Marat allowed her to come while he was bathing for a skin problem he had. Before she went, she left a letter explaining everything she was about to do for her country because she knew she would be caught in the end. At the meeting, she took a kitchen knife to Marat's throat and sliced it open, leaving him to die immediately. Going outside covered in blood, the police captured her and she was put on trial. Once found guilty, she was sent to be beheaded. On her way up to the blade, she screamed and cried because she was not ready to face a painful death. Corday made France realize two things; women needed to step up more for what they believed in and also the guillotine was not humane at all. Even though she did commit murder, she showed women how to step out of their boxes and do something for their people in order to bring peace back and less killings by the government.

Growth of Immigration

When the Communism collapse and a civil war takes place in Yugoslavia, the immigration growth begins to take notice. People moving to different countries than where their parents grew up in because of new work and more money opportunities. Once they raised enough money, they could send it to their families back in their old country to come to the new country where they are at to live a perhaps happier life. This painting capture the moment of a ship load of people coming into a new country and meeting new people or maybe even the family that already moved there for work. Everyone is running to greet someone else in the picture as the row boats come in from the ship, bringing loads of people to the land.

Rwanda Genocide

Today in our world, we are worried about many different things that are going on in our country. Swine Flu hit Mexico not too long ago, and is now spreading across America. What we do not think about is what else is going on in other countries that we may be able to help out on? To save at least one more life? In Rwanda, many different countries are in debate whether or not there is a genocide occurring or not. It started once a plane was shot down, carrying two important people who were from different types of ethnic groups in Rwanda. Once it occurred, the Hutus attacked Tutsis believing they were the ones responsible for attacking the President's plane. About 800,000 were killed in a 100 days alone. This type of situation seems like something that could have been prevented if another country had intervened. Unfortunately, Rwanda is not the only country who is having a genocide without other countries noticing because of their leaders covering it up. A foundation for Rwanda is set up so people can donate money to them to send people to school for an education, such as the orphans whose parents were killed during the attack of the Hutus. http://foundationrwanda.org/ Maybe if this foundation can raise enough money, some of these people can still have a future that does not involve someone killing another.

Connection Across Time...

On December 7, 1941, 2,887 Americans died when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Many of the sailors were trapped, being on the lowest part of the ship and when it was attacked, they had no where to go. Sadly, America lost a lot of good men and women during that day. Once Pearl Harbor happened, America decided that World War II had gone too far and needed to end before any more lives were taken. America dropped two a-bombs, fat man and little boy, in Japan and it ended the war.
On September 11, 2001, America was again attacked but not by the same people. Terrorists from Iraq had flown planes into American cities which crashed into different buildings of very populated and important places such as the Twin Towers in NYC. After this attack, Bush sent us into war in Iraq so we could get terrorists who would attack America again and those who ordered the attacks. Today, we are still in war with Iraq, even though we do use a-bombs to help out. The connection across time is, a country can be in the same situation many times... but the solution to ending a war will not always be the same every time. When we bombed Japan, WWII ended... When we bombed Iraq, the war continued.

IT'S OVER!!!!!!!!!!!

The war is over!! World War II finally came to an end on V-J Day (Victory over Japan Day), the day Japan surrenders after American A-Bombs changed their minds. In New York City, after receiving the news, a Navy sailor grabs a nurse and kisses her in Time Square. The question is, whose the couple?! For many years, everyone has been curious over who the sailor is and who the nurse is in this famous photograph after the end of the long war was over. I love this photo because it shows stress and anxiety being set free after such a long time. Navy, Marines, Army, and everyone else in the military can finally quit fighting against people who believed only certain people should override others. Nurses will have less soldier wounds to treat, citizens will no longer have to make equipment for the War, and sons and daughters won't have to die over seas from World War II. Many soldiers were killed fighting, and many citizens attacked without warning sometimes. After many years of this mystery of who the sailor was in the photo, he has finally come forward. Glenn McDuffie was identified through many different tests through the photo and himself. http://www.amny.com/news/local/am-kiss0814,0,447049.story

American Soldiers raising the American Flag

Marines showing American Pride as they place America's flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. This photograph is a memorable one for every American citizen because it showed American standing strong during one of History's most toughest times, World War II. After the identification of the soldiers in this photograph was established, we learn three of these men died during a battle while the other three were survivors of the war. Joe Rosenthal was the photographer of this image of the soldiers' flag raising. Later, a Marine Corps War Memorial was made with the three survivors posing so the sculptor, Felix W. de Weldon, could sculpt the faces of American heroes and used as many photographs as he could to sculpt the other three heroes. The photographer really captured American soldiers being proud of their country by fighting and believing in what they were fighting for.

Chapter 29 Art ~ Yasuko Yamagata Remembers

Towards the end of World War II, US sent two atomic bombs over to Japan. There were some survivors, and those survivors tell their tale in one form or another. Yasuko Yamagata paints her tale as she remembers being just seventeen years old when the attack happened. "...when she saw the brilliant blue-white "lightning flash" that became a fiery orange ball consuming everything that would burn" (McKay, page 983). I think this painting is the one of the few ways American people can see what we did to Japan when we attacked because the most that America saw during then was the large smoke cloud that shot up into the air after the bombs landed and exploded. It shows those who suffered from the bomb and those who tried to save the young ones who were helpless. I think it is sad seeing this to know that the Japanese government did not tell their citizens about the threat/warning that was made so, if they chose to, they could save their families and themselves.

Connection Across Time 28

At the end of World War I, the Treaty of Versailles was placed to punish Germany for causing a war that involved more than one nation. Although it was some what harsh for blaming everything on Germany, Germany still had to pay for the war and take out loans on other nations. After World War I was over, America went into a Great Depression right before World War II, which did not help anyone because not only did it affect American people, but also Germany who were taking loans. Today we are in War with Iraq and are having financial problems. War is very expensive for both sides, especially if one side is helping another country financially. Money troubles come into play when we need it most for wars, and no one knows when we will come out of it until someone either pulls out of war or the war ends and a country finds a way to benefit off of something to bring their country's stocks back up.

Guernica (1937)

Pablo Picasso's painting of Guernica was painted in 1937, as a reflection off of the Spanish Civil War and the deaths that occurred during the war. Each section of the art you must look very closely at to see what is actually occurring, as if many scenes were put together into one painting. For example, the woman on the far left is crying to the Heavens after the loss of her young child. The person laying on their back looks as though they have committed suicide because of all the marks that could be blood on their arms and the broken sword in their right hand that might have plunged into their heart. This painting is very hard to tell what exactly is happening in each part of the painting. "Picasso wanted his painting to be an unforgettable attack on "brutality and darkness" (McKay, 935). The way each person, animal, and object is created differently and none of them look like they would in reality is very created of Picasso. I think that that is why I like this painting, because it's not your ordinary painting of people who are "picture perfect," so to speak. Picasso went out on a limb as he painted this and I believe he succeeded in an extraordinary painting.

To Bomb Japan or to Not? Chapter 29

Thursday (4/23) during class we divided up into two groups, those for America bombing Japan during WWII to end it and those against it. Although many of us were for bombing Japan, I chose the against side. My formal opinion was for it, and clearly many others opinion matched mine when we got up to move to our sides and only a few students were against it. So, I decided to join the against side to even out the teams (even though the teams were still not even, but that's okay). While collecting our thoughts for our debate that will be held Friday, I realized how many other options we had that would have less killing the innocent and maybe even more land. If America could control the Nazi party and many countries in Europe, how come America could not control Japan, who is smaller in size, without the a-bombs? Emily W. brought this point up in our discussion and I thought it was a very good point to make. Less lives would have been killed, especially the innocent people who live in Japan and want nothing to do with the war their leaders dragged them into. Another point that I brought up was the situation Japan was in when America warned them to surrender. When someone tells you to surrender or give up, you want to fight against them to show you are not weak and will not willingly be picked on by someone bigger or older, like siblings. America told Japan to surrender and they chose to fight instead because they did not want America to think Japan could be controlled so easily. Unfortunately for Japan, they could not defend themselves against an a-bomb, but they refused to surrender. Was America's act of bombing an alpha dog act? I think so because even though America wanted to end the war, the a-bomb would be a 50/50 chance of ending the war since no one could foresee the outcome of the bombings. Today during class was the actual debate, where many of us voiced our opinions. I thought overall it was a success, even though no side won because both sides gave good points. The against side said instead of using an atomic bomb, why not starve them out? The other side said that would take too long, the money would go to waste, and Japan would do nothing for their civilians since they did not exactly care about them when USA sent a "heads up" note saying we were going to bomb them. Our point was that then they would run out of food and have to surrender because we would basically starve them out of options. I said starvation is easier to recover from than radiation poisoning which can be passed down the family line. Even today there are most likely still people suffering in Japan from radiation poisoning from World War II.

Taliesin West designed by L. Wright is a building he made on a hill from his childhood and used it as his house. What many people do not know, is that this is not his original work. In 1914, his wife and 6 other people were murdered in this house by a servant who worked here. After she killed them, she burnt the house down. Years later, Wright decided to rebuild it so his family could use it once again. This house was also used for Wright's many ideas of structures to build around the world, and where he was inspired by the nature around it as a child. It is located in Wisconsin, near Spring Green and is still there today. The house had three wings; living quarters, Wright's office, and the last wing was a farm. The Taliesin Preservation Inc. has gone through the Taliesin and restored it, repairing anything that needed to be fixed so they could preserve Wright's home. This building is apart of America's history because it was Wright's creation and where he thought of the different architects he created during his life time.

Wright's designs are always amazing. I like this building because it's not your typical house. There's different cultures in it, which is why I think I like it. You can tell a lot of Asian in it because of some of the art he has chosen to put there and the way he designed parts of the house. Looking through pictures that were taken after this building was complete, its really neat to see the changes in it now. The Taliesin Preservation Inc. really did a good job at keeping what they could for the house to leave Wright's impression in it, and by updating the house so it could be around longer without rotting away.

Expert in Foreign Policy

Friday, our class did an assignment where we had to be an advisor to the Nazi Party. We were given five questions on what to do in each situation and a "A B C" column that listed our choices. For example, number 1 said "the depression has made Austria weak. Taking over Austria will be very popular in Germany. It will bring many Germans into the Reich. However other countries might oppose you. Your options: A) Try to take over Austria by sending troops to Vienna. B) Try to take over Austria by political pressure. C) Do nothing its not worth annoying France, Britain and Italy" (Hitler's Foreign Policy worksheet). After everyone had chosen, our student teacher told us how many points each option was worth (10, 20, or 30) and in the end we would add up all of our points. The catch to this assignment was the amount of points you had, you would either be rewarded for being a good Nazi or punished for being a terrible Nazi. Once we were done adding up points, she showed us on the slide show who was punished and who was rewarded. 120-150 was punished for being a terrible Nazi and 50-80 were rewarded by being upgraded in their positions as a Nazi advisor. If you had 90-110 (my score was 100), you were a failure as a Nazi but since you had some good ideas, they allowed you to stay in Berlin, Germany. Everyone in the class thought the higher the score, the better. Turned out the less points you had the better Nazi you were. Once we learned what kind of Nazi we were, she told us Hitler's choices and which he did. A lot of my answers were similar to what Hitler did except for two. I really liked this assignment, thought it was fun and a nice break from taking notes from a slide show like we had been doing all week. It was funny when we learned who failed and who was rewarded because of students' reactions. Although, some answers seemed that two options should of had the same amount of points and would have possibly kept some people out of hot water with the Nazi party.

Charlie Chaplin

During class for the past week, students have been giving power points on chapter 28. Seth S. gave his presentation on many different topics, but one was about Charlie Chaplin. Even if you've never heard of Chaplin, it is most likely that you have seen his picture before and just had no clue as to who he was. He was in many silent movies, the old fashioned kind where when someone spoke, there was text across the screen indicating what they were saying. Usually if there was any sound at all in the film, it was just the music they played along with the movie. Mr. Chaplin won two Oscar awards for his films and was the first actor to be on Times Magazine. A famous star still remembered today.

Some facts I found interesting about Charles Chaplin:

- The Queen of England actually made Chaplin into a Knight

- He had eight children and four wives

- Chaplin was the first person to do the "Table Ballet" or "Bread Roll Dance" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoKbDNY0Zwg

- His death was on Christmas Day

- After he was buried, he was kidnapped by Switz who dug up his body for money from his family. They never saw the money though because the police officers caught the people who did it.

Waterfall House

Fallingwater Home was designed Lloyd Wright in 1937. Wright built this home as a vacation home for a family who lived in Pittsburgh, PA, the Kaufman family. The Kaufman family owned a department store, now known as Macy's. They hired Mr. Wright to design this house because of the son in the family, he was very interested in Wright's work. The reason this house is magnificent is because of where it is built. The house hangs 30' over the waterfall and its structure is unbelievable. Today, over 70,000 visitors come to see this amazing house each year. This house is in Bears Run, PA and is one of Wright's master pieces of all time. I really like this house because I think it would be a cool house to live in. Wake up in the mornings and walk out onto the balcony which is hanging over a waterfall and the house is surrounded by nature! That would be pretty nice. And to top everything, I am still puzzled on how he came up with the idea of building a house over a waterfall and the construction was completed. It truly is a masterpiece of Wright's and one that inspired many European workers.

Connection Across Time

April 6, 2009
Many remeber World War I involving many countries and many deaths. Some people do not remember that what started the war was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, his wife and their unborn baby. Just leaving the City Hall in an open top car, Gavrilo Princip shot two bullets at the couple because he felt it would help free his people from Austro-Hungarian Empire. Others were also involved in planning the assassination and were sentenced to prison and some to death. And so begun World War I.
On September 11, 2001, America was attacked by terrorists, leaving many wounded and dead. American people feared for their lives because it started out as a normal day, then planes bgan crashing into important buildings such as the Twin Towers. Family and friends were lost that day, whether from the planes or trying to rescue someone in hope that there were survivors. Ever since that day almost eight years ago, America has had soldiers stationed in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, trying to find those responsible for the attacks so something like 9/11 would never happen again.
The start of WWI and America stopping terrorists were very similar, both started with deaths and attacks. Another similarity is the deaths that are being taken while fighting this battle so no harm comes to their country ever again. New technology and weapons were developed during both wars and also improving the old weapons. In the end of WWI, America, France, Italy and Great Britain all decided what was going to happen to the countries that were involved in the war, restoring some countries while punishing others. In Iraq, America is sort of doing the same by trying to develop a better government for the people in Iraq. Although some may argue that history does not repeat itself, many similarities occur over and over again through out history. The whole world can learn from these wars and others what tactics worked and which ones failed and should never be tried again.

Christopher Nevinson painting.

April 6, 2009

This painting was done by Christopher Nevinson, I am unsure of what the title is but is on page 886 of our text books. It shows three soldiers during World War I with a machine gun aimed at the enemy waiting to fire. Right above the soldiers' heads is a barbed wire and there is what looks like wood surrounding them. I am assuming these are not German soldiers because German soldiers have the Nazi flag symbol wrapped around their arm and these soldiers do not have that on. Two of the soldiers are spotting the enemies while the third soldier is not looking. It makes me wonder what he is looking at or thinking about that has him distracted from the enemy or is he waiting for the bullets to go off and cannot look at the gun because it might damage his eyes. This painting does show how much of a small amount soldiers had during battles and not much room to move, so if a bomb came and hit them, they would most likely not have enough time to get out of the way. Also, since they are in such a small amount of space, does that make them an easier target for the enemy? Many questions can be asked on how to keep a soldier safer during battle, especially after having an actual image such as the one Nevinson caught in his painting.

Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

April 6, 2009
On March 26, the class received an article on the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. It gave some information of Ferdinand and how his wife was treated during their marriage. For example, Sophie Von Chotkovato (his wife) was not allowed to join her husband when he sat in the royal box or carriage.

Many people did not like Ferdinand because they didn't want him in Austro-Hungarian Empire and the fact that Ferdinand would become their Emperor. The only way, some people saw, out was to assassinate Franz Ferdinand at his next visit. The group who planned the assassination were called 'Black Hand' and their opportunity came in June 1914, when Ferdinand visited Bosnia. In the morning of June, Gavrilo Princip, who was only 19 years old, fired two shots at Ferdinand and his wife Sophie but killed three people. Sophie was pregnent the day she died and died instantly after being hit with the bullet. Following her death was her husband's, saying his last words 'Sofia' at his wife right before he too died. Princip was sentenced to twenty years and since he was under 21, he missed the death sentence but died in prision due to tuberculosis on April 28, 1918.

Leaders are assassinated many times through out history because of what they believe in or their posistion in government. Gavrilo Princip was only a year older than I am when he assassinated a family because he felt that he was saving his people from Ferdinand's future for their country. Would the future have been different if this family was not assassinated? I think it would, but whether or not it would be for the better of the people Princip was trying to protect is hard to say. It would be like writing what happened if the Romanov family was not murdered and how Russia changed. No one knows for sure what would have happened to Russia then, we can only assume. Knowing that Princip was only a year older than I am now, it makes me wonder if any of my friends who are 19 could assassinate an entire family if they truly believed in something. Not that many people could, but there are always those few who could if they felt it needed to be done.

Painting by Willy Stower

April 2, 2009
Painting by~

Willy Stower, 1917

During World War I, Germany began to use U-boats or submarines. Most Navy ships were never expecting a ship underneath neath them, especially one that would attack them. Different Navy ships would be attacked while out to sea by the German U-boats, making other countries even more angrier. This painting Stower captured the image of a ship in distress after being hit by the enemy, and the enemy rising to the surface to watch the ship drown. The flag on the ship was an American flag which could have been the time that made them join World War I, after Germany attacked unexpectedly. I really like this painting because of all the colors the painter used for each detail. Also, he has one of the Germans holding up their arm, 'Hail Hitler' sign, after attacking a ship for Germany.

America Not Standing Behind Its Own Leader?

Wednesday, April 1, Maz's class discussed the Versailles Treaty. Mainly who was involved, what they wanted, why they wanted it, and the result of the treaty. Georges Clemenceau, for example, wanted to punish Germany and for them to pay for any damages that occurred during WWI. His main goal was total revenge and some could see it as harsh as Lloyd George did. He too wanted revenge on Germany, but in more of a peaceful way (basically Germany would pay for the damages done and they would be punished for causing the war). United States of America's President Wilson wanted many things out of this treaty, but one he wanted most was the League of Nations. The League of Nations had one basic goal, to prevent a war like this to ever occur again.

Wilson saw the League of Nations as a way to prevent another war like WWI was, but unfortunately not every country agreed with his ideas. There were three countries that did not agree to sign the League of Nations. Germany, naturally, did not want it because they saw it as an insult to their country since everyone was blaming them for starting WWI. Another country was Russia. The final country was one someone might scratch their heads over for not understanding, it was the United States of America. President Wilson created the idea of League of Nations and yet, he cannot get his own country to follow his lead? Other leaders in America did not like Wilson and tried to go against any ideas of his that they could, and so they did when it came to signing the League of Nations.

This came as a shock to me because usually America follows its Commander's lead unless it is harmful for America itself. The League of Nations did not seem like a bad idea if it could really prevent war and less lives loss, but I am sure it had its downsides which could have been the reason why America did not sign it. Was there an actual reason behind not signing it? Or did Senators of the time just really not like President Wilson and decide to go against him as we think they did?

Otto Dix: War (pg. 897 in "A History of Western Society")

http://homepage.mac.com/dmhart/WarArt/Dix/WarTriptychDetail.JPG
Historical Period ~ This painting, by Otto Dix painted in 1929-32, is only part of a whole painting. In the caption underneath the painting in the book, we learn that his reason for painting this disturbing image was because it was what he saw during the war. Everyone around him was dead and nothing looked very pleasant. A nightmare that lives inside his mind for the rest of his life as well for others who escaped this mess. Dix painted this once he returned to Germany and the war was over.

Response to art ~ This work of art was indeed disturbing and must have been horrible to witness as Dix had. It shows different ways that people died during this time of war and how their bodies were treated after their deaths. Many of these humans had bullet, sword, and burn wounds that most likely lead them to a slow, painful death. Blood shed everywhere as it drains out of the corpses from their wounds and even mouths. Two burned victims who could have been burned are placed almost in the center section of the painting. One hangs in the sky off of what seems to be a beam of some type. The other you can only see his hand sticking out of the many corpses almost directly in the middle of the painting. His/her hand is very black as if it was burnt crisped except for his thumb which is almost white minus some of the dirt upon it.

One can tell that war has taken place in this town, but not just because of the way these people died. In the background, you can see broken down homes, buildings and what looks to be a farm which must mean that something horrible took place here. Also, there is a man who stands among the corpses with a hard army helmet on, a gas mask and also some type of wrap to protect his skin perhaps. It might be Otto Dix painting himself in to show that this is what he saw and remembers every night. People he might have known are now dead in front of him. During his time, he was a volunteer for the German Army which is how he could have seen this type of terrifying seen.