My Character

My character is Lizzy Sue Smith. I am a female. I am in my mid 20s. I have moved to this town because I have just graduated from nursing school and am in search of a job. The hospital in this town has a large shortage of nurses so I have moved here to help. I get a job and am exremely shocked by this town's culture because I was born and raised in a conservative, small farm in Ocilla, Georgia. When I move to this town, I am absoultly shocked!

What I learned about the Cultural Revolution

*Cultural Revolution*-- a comprehensive reform movement in China initiated by Mao Zedong in 1965 to eliminate counterrevolutionary elements in the country's institutions and leadership. It threatened China for ten years. People were encouraged to criticize cultural institutions and to question their parents and teachers, which was strictly forbidden in the Chinese culture.
*Bourgeois*-- a label for members of property-owning class, then the middle class. The drafting of intellectuals was an effort to remove these "bourgeois" influences so that everyone would be "equal"
*Mao Zedong*--the founder of People's Republic of China. Responsible for mass mobilization of urban Chinese youth inauguration. Closed schools and encouraged students to join Red Guard units, which persecuted Chinese teachers and enforced Mao's *The Gang of Four*-- restricted the arts and enforced ideology. Judged on trial. Imprisoned on October 1976, which brought the movement to a close.
*Counter-Revolutionary*-- people were encouraged to criticize cultural institutions and to question their parents and teachers, which was strictly forbidden in their culture; propaganda; wearing glasses; being smart; to be better than another person; and ideology

PJ Week 2/14

Valentine's Day for me this year has been the best one yet! This has been the only year that I have had a "serious" boyfriend, which makes Valentine's Day a whole lot more special. Yesterday, he sent me three beautiful pale pink roses to school. He sent them a day early because he knew that it would be a generic thing for people to receive roses today, but it would only be MY special day if he sent them a day early. I was completely shocked and excited. What a plesant suprise! When I woke up this morning, my mom had written sweet Valentine notes all over my bathroom mirror. As soon as I had gotten out of the shower and dressed, my mom and dad came into my room with three presents and two cards. In the presesnts were many different types of jewlry; they know me well! One of the cards was from them and one was from my dog. I finished getting ready and went into the kitchen to make breakfast, but mom had already made me some heart-shaped cinnamon rolls. As a suprise, she had made some homeade rice crispy treats for me, which are my favorite snack! When I went out to my car, I saw that my parents had decorated my car with hearts and arrows. So far, I have had the best Valentine's Day ever! I can no wait to see what is in store for the rest of the day!

Antigone-the first feminazi

Antigone is known as the first feminazi, which means she doesn't care about the law or the consequences she could possibly face for breking the law. When she unlawfully buried her brother and was caught, she didn't deny any of it. She accepted all or any of the consequences that were to come.
If Antigone and Ismene were not women in this play, they probably would have been treated completly differently. Creon may not have been as gentle on them as he would have been on a male. There never would have been a question of their consequences if they were males. They probably would have immediatly been put to death if they were males in this situation.
Creon called Antigone and Ismene crazy. I guess you could say that it is extremely uncommon for women to be unlawful, but it is common among men. When a woman commits a crime, it is a bigger deal for some odd reason. However, when a man commits a crime, it is usually just dealt with in a non-dramatic way. In this situation, I believe that Creon was so shocked that these two women would commit such a crime.
Being called crazy as a woman is very devistating. We can get emotionally scared and upset about that one comment for eternity. This is just how women usually work. If we receive a negative remark, especially from guys, we will hold that in our mind for a long time. However, if guys were cut down, they just take it and forget about it within like three minutes.
Men and women are completely different in many ways. Men are typically extremely brave, buff, strong, and willing to take on anything. Women on the other hand, are usually more gentle, cautious, and relaxed about things. Something that really ticks men off may not be that big of a deal to men and visa-versa. These are just a few ways in which men differ from women.

What's In the Bag?

I believe that I am in control of some of the decisions I make. However, I do believe that some choices we make are not left up to us. It is a hard concept to grasp, but it is possible. I make many little decisions such as: choosing to brush my teeth, choosing what outfit to wear everyday, what to eat, etc. I also make big decisions such as: choosing who I want to date, what career I want to go into, etc. However, there are some decisions that I can not make. Examples of those are: when I am going to get sick, when I am going to be in the hospital, when I am going to die. It is not like I can plan all of those things out. I believe that God has the power and control in that situation. Some decisions are taken out of our hands and put into God's hands. That is not necessarily a bad thing though. I believe that he takes those few choices that we can not make out of our hands simply because he knows that we could not handle making them. For the most part though, I believe that we do have the free will to make whatever decisions we would like to. However, if we make bad decisions, we should be ready to face the consequences that could follow.

Free Fallin'

Page 970 line 163. Oedipus states," Wealth, power, craft of statesmanship! Kingly position, everywhere admired! What savage envy is stored up against these, If Creon, whom I trusted, Chreon my friend, for this great office which the city once put in my hands-unsought-if for this power Creon desires in secret to destroy me! He has brought this decrepit fortune-teller, this collector of dirty pennies, this prophet fraud- why, he is no more clairvoyant than I am!"
Fate and free will have a great impact on the play, Oedipus Rex. Oedipus has a sense of free will at the beginning of the play. He has chosen to kill the king, not knowing that he was his father. He had a choice to kill him; therefore, he had free wil. However, from this passage, one can tell that Oedipus is heading down fate's path now. Like I stated earlier, he had free will to kill his father, but as a result of the bad decision, fate is taking over his life. Page 981, line 310, Oedipus says, " Indeed, I fear no other hope is left me." This statement proves that even Oedipus knows that he is gradually being overtaken by fate. Page 999, line 287-291. 'Come now, and leave your children." "No! Do not take them from me!" "Think no longer that you are in comand here, but rather think how, when you were, you served your own destruction." These few lines prove the point that fate now has control over Oedipus' life. He is no longer in control of his life or anyone elses.

importance of MLK

Martin Luther King Jr. is known world-wide as a very famous political leader. He was a strong willed man. Anything he put his mind to, he accomplished beautifully. I would have to say that the biggest accomplishment he made was helping die down the racial issues between the black and white people. He made his speech, "I Have a Dream." In this speech, he stated his wish for a world where everyone got along, regardless of gender, age, race, etc. He also wanted everyone to be free. In this speech he said, " Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring — when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children — black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics - will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" As one can tell from this quote, Martin Luther King Jr. was a very brave man to stand before all of these civil right supporters and speak in this manner and tone. Wow!! However, he is known and respected worldwide for many things, but this speech is the greatest of all of his accomplishments I believe. This one speech helped all of the world to come together as one. We still have our noticeable differences, but we are learning to cope with them and work together despite of them. Without Martin Luther King, I have no idea where we as a nation would be today.