My Red Hunting Hat

A red hunting hat is supposed to protect you from other hunters while keeping you hidden from the deer that you are hunting.  For me the red hunting hat is my personality.  It protects me from other hunters because I can give as well as take a joke.  Rather than taking jokes directed at me by friends in a bad way and getting angry I just turn it around at them and laugh about it.  This is a good thing because it allows me to always keep a positive outlook on things rather than getting upset and ruining my day.  My personality also keeps me hidden from the deer in the sense that if something is upsetting me at the moment you often cannot tell because I try to act the same.  This keeps my emotions hidden sometimes making everyone the deer.  The last way is because it makes me stand out from the crowd.  If you see someone walking around in a red hunting hat you notice.  I am a rather loud and noticeable person so because of my personality I stand out rather than just going along with things.  Overall my personality fits every description of a red hunting hat.

Class Direction

I do not think there is anything about our class structure that should be changed.  I think that it is a very enjoyable class as well as being very interesting.  I love the fact that we get independent reading days every Thursday.  I also think that all the required readings are very interesting rather then dull.  The last thing that i really love about this class is the discussions that we have.  Many interesting ideas come up in all of them and i am never afraid to voice my opinion, nor do i ever feel like i have to make up something to share.  Overall I love this class and look forward to the rest of the year.

Holden The phoniest real person

Up to chapter 16 in The Catcher in the Rye we have been shown many times that Holden both hates people that he considers phony and that he loves people that he considers to be “real”.  Holden considers himself real and takes it upon himself to protect the other people that he considers to be real.  However I do not think that he is really as real as he sees himself.

If he was actually a real person why would he not tell the phonies what he thinks of them?  Outwardly he acts as if he does not have any of these feelings and ideas about all of the phonies around him.  Doesn’t that make Holden phony as well because he changes who he is as a person.  Also the fact that he constantly lies to the people around him about unimportant things when there is no reason to tell the lies at all.  For example when he wanted to leave Mr. Spencer’s house there was really no need to lie about going to get his stuff.  He could have just asked to leave.  Then an even better example is with Mrs. Morrow, there is no reason for him to have lied to her he could have just said nothing to her and been on his merry way but he decided to make stuff up for his own enjoyment.  These are two reasons that in my opinion make Holden himself is extremely phony.

Thanksgiving

                This Thanksgiving I am very thankful for my family.  This Thanksgiving I am spending the weekend with my mom’s family in Saint Louis.  When I think about my family I am thankful because of how lucky I am to have them all still.  My grand-father was a full colonel in the Vietnam War so for him to have survived is something that I am very thankful for.  Many people that had family in the Vietnam War were not as lucky as I am.  I am also thankful for my grand-mother.  She had a heart attack a few years ago and I cannot imagine my life without her.  She helped me and is still helping me to be the best that I can be and has always supported me in everything that I do.  I am also thankful because of my aunt.  A few years ago she had breast cancer and after that she lost her job.  However she fought through and has since gotten married and has an even better job than before.  Finally I am thankful for my parents.  They do so much work for me and my siblings to be happy.  My dad drives my sister and I to school on the way to work and after school my mom drives all four of us out to Schaumberg for soccer practice.  When I look at my family I see how lucky I am and it makes me very thankful.

Cormac McCarthy interview

A major theme in The Road that Cormac McCarthy talks about in his interview with the Wall Street Journal is the relationship between father and son.  In the book the father to son relationship is the very center of that type of relationship.  The things that cause this relationship to be less loving at times in our world are gone.  In the world we live in today kids fight a lot with their parents so this super close relationship between the father and the son that we can see in The Road is a lot less obvious.  However when you look past all the trivial arguments that kids have with their parents I think that most father to son relationships are similar to in the book.  In his interview with The Wall Street Journal Cormac McCarthy talks about three letters that he got from fathers who had read his book.  He says that they all said the same thing, they had started reading his book after dinner and finished it early the next morning and afterwards had just gone up and held their sons close.  I think that Cormac McCarthy does a great job getting to the very center of the father son relationship in his book he shows that when all those unimportant fights are removed the bond between father and son is a very powerful one.

Letter to Cormac McCarthy

Dear Mr. McCarthy,
I think that your book is an amazing novel.  I think it has a great plot and is fabulously written to match it.  Your novel has a plot that makes people think about things that they would not necessarily want to think about.  For example cannibalism, this is something that in the modern day United States people don't think about because it does not happen.  However the fact that these people are resorting to cannibalism shows the ugly side of human nature.  It shows that humans would be willing to do anything to ensure their own survival.  This is especially well shown when they find the people locked up in the basement because they are being penned up like animals to be slaughtered.  Your novel is also very well written.  This shows in the emotion of the characters.  When you describe their feelings you know exactly how they feel and you almost get those same emotions.  Also you describe everything in such detail you can really see it in your mind. One last thing you mqnged to do is emotionally attach us to the characters we really care what happens to them. Overall I think you have written a great novel and can't wait to find out how it ends.

Hero or Stooge?

I think that John Proctor is both a hero and a stooge depending on where you look at it.  For us looking at him in the 21st century America he is a hero.  He is risking his own life just to stand by his principles.  In modern day society your principles is something that people often use to define you.  This means that our principles and whether or not you stand by them will effect they way you are viewed in the society.  John Proctor has good principles and the fact that no matter what he is standing by them makes him a hero from the view of modern society.
However in the Puritan society of Salem at the time of this play he seems like a stooge.  They seem to think that it is best to just keep their heads down and blame the problems on others or lie to get that lesser sentence of jail time.  This makes his actions that go against the general opinion of how to deal with this situation if it arises.  He would have been looked at as foolish or straight stupid by his fellow puritans.
Whether John Proctor is a hero or a stooge is an idea that changes through time with people in one time period having a totally different opinion then even the next generation.

Sinners in the hands of an angry god

I think that the sermon about sinners in the hands of an angry god is a very interesting.  I think that this piece gives a very good insight of the puritan beliefs and why they are the way they are.  This piece shows that the puritans think very highly of their people.  They say that they are the chosen people.  However they seem to think of this more as a chore then a privilege at some times.  For example they have to behave according to their beliefs all the time or face being destroyed.  They also seem to think that they are responsible for saving the people of the world.  With the floodgates being held back they make it seem like they need to get god to keep his hand there.  I can relate to them in the sense that my religion also believes that we are god’s chosen people.  However my religion is not as strict in its rules.  We also don’t believe that we only get one chance we offer reconciliation.

There goes the neighborhood

            Throughout history we see examples of new cultures coming into foreign lands and interfering with the natives. For example we see the Spanish conquistadors coming to South America and taking advantage of the Aztecs.  Often times the newcomers do not respect the people already there and this causes issues.  This is also apparent with the European colonists when they arrive in North America.  The English colonies were constantly trying to expand into the Native Americans’ lands.  This caused the Native Americans to become angry and try to fight back.  Later in this same conflict the United States government forced the Native American people to leave their lands to go live on the reservations.  The American people thought that they were just entitled to anything that they wanted.  This disrespect of the other cultures around them led to pain and hardships for the Native Americans.  This means that the relationship between the two cultures was destroyed.


                However even though there are plenty of negative examples of cultures mixing in history we can also find working relationships.  For example my neighborhood, Ukrainian Village is a perfect example.  It started out with lots of German immigrants then lots of Polish immigrants came.  This could have caused problems, however at the time many people did not like the immigrants so they banded together to strengthen the community.  Since that time a large amount of Ukrainian immigrants have come to the neighborhood.  For the most part the people in my neighborhood get along very well.  This is a great example of how three different cultures can come together and instead of creating conflicts they all strengthen each other

Introduction

                Hello everyone my name is Christian M. Cattan and I am a freshman at Whitney Young High School.  I live in the Ukrainian Village.  I moved to this area about a year ago from Lincoln Park.  One interesting thing about me is that I was an academic center student or an ackie.  Before I came to Whitney Young for the academic center I was a student at LaSalle Language Academy.

                I have three siblings two brothers and one sister.  My brothers are in the third and fifth grades and currently attend LaSalle Language Academy.  My sister is in seventh grade and has just entered the academic center.  My dad is a vice president for the American Institute of Steel Construction and my mom stays at home.

                All the kids in my family play soccer.  I currently play for the Whitney Young soccer team and my three siblings as well as I during the non-high school season play for Sockers FC a club based in the suburb of Schaumberg.

                Another thing that I enjoy doing is traveling.  I have family all around the world and have been to several countries in Europe.  In the summer of 2007 my aunt got married in Florence, Italy so my family visited France and Italy.  I also was baptized in Paris when I was a baby.