"The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think is right"

We are currently reading the Transcendentalist writers. Some of the concepts we have discussed are:

§Reject Authority
§Be an Individual
§Live simply, in harmony with nature and others
§Currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part and parcel with God.

The Transcendental concepts of simplicity and reverence for nature are pretty easy to understand, right. We can also probably see a continuum in history from Patrick Henry who led the Virginians in revolution against a tyrannical king, to Thoreau's hatred for slavery and unfair taxes, down to Martin Luther King Jr.'s activism in the 1960's.

But what about this?
Thoreau said in Civil Disobedience, "The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think is right." Emerson, likewise, said that "The only right is what is after my constitution, the only wrong what is against it." By "constitution", Emerson meant the aggregate of your personality. In other words, he was saying that if something went against your better judgment, your intuition, if it didn't feel right to you, then it was almost like physically hurting yourself to participate.

A. W. Tozer wrote in response to Thoreau and Emerson: "If that were true, there would be as many codes as there are human beings and each one of us would be our own witness, prosecutor, judge, jury and jailer! "

What do you think about this? What problems could an attitude such as the Transcendentalist authors took lead to? Or, conversely, what do you like about this attitude?

A Sense of Place...

A SENSE OF PLACE

I'd love for you to reflect here on your museum experience. A thorough reflection that connects the trip to the concept of a sense of place would make a great journal entry for your final product for this unit. Here are some sample questions you could address: How have artists featured at the PMA experimented with different visual arts to express important ideas? (Try to connect those ideas to something we have read in class). How did the composition, color and execution of a particular piece of art that you remember from the PMA inform the narrative implicit therein? (In plain English, how did the piece tell it's story?) Did any of the artist works you observed at the PMA look closely at nature and beyond to understand themselves? In "Moosehunt" or "Walden" did Thoreau do that, too? Did any of the visual art you saw at the PMA have parallels with the Romantic/Transcendental period? Have fun, and remember that if you answer thoughtfully, your answer can count twice for you; once as a blog entry for extra credit, and also as a journal for the mini multi-genre study for this unit!

Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death

We are almost to the end of the Founding Fathers section of Unit One!

We are going to spend some time this week looking at Patrick Henry's famous speech.

According to historian George F. Willison, at this time Henry was "some six feet tall, [and] trim… [He] was not ahandsome man, but personable and engaging. His manner toward all men, from the humblest to the highest, was quiet, friendly, and unaffected… Henry when speaking publicly was often something of an actor… Even so, his words and his posturing [often] carried the day."


Henry was a lawyer who specialized in the plight of the common man. That ability to relate to the common man and to the lawmakers of his time earned him the respect of his fellow Americans. Putting his money where his mouth was, Henry then went on to be a military leader in the Revolution. He also assumed responsibility for the emerging American nation by becoming governor of Virginia.

Thomas Jefferson remembered Henry as "the idol of his country beyond any man who ever lived...It is not now easy to say what we [Americans] should have done without Patrick Henry.*"

Here's what he said about you: "The voice of tradition, I trust, will inform posterity of our struggles for freedom. If our descendants be worthy the name of Americans they will preserve and hand down to their latest posterity the transactions of the present times."


So this week, I am asking you the same questions that men such as Henry, Franklin, Jefferson, Washington and others consciously asked themselves:

What does it take to be a great American individual?

What is my job in society?

What freedoms do you have that you appreciate?

What American traditions have been handed down to you?

Remember; answer any or all, but get some conversation going!

*Schmittroth, Linda, and Mary Kay Rosteck. "Henry, Patrick." American Revolution Biographies. Ed. Stacy McConnell. UXL-GALE, 2000. eNotes.com. 2006. 15 Oct, 2006

Virtues Post

In English 11 today, we read the "Moral Perfection" excerpt from The Autobiography of Ben Franklin.

We talked about how the Puritans' children and grandchildren took the Puritan religious ethic of self-scrutiny (constantly checking for sins) and morphed it into the Englightenment ideal of human perfection.

Benjamin Franklin took this concept very seriously. He set up a system whereby he practiced a list of virtues [in a scientific way] in order to become a better person.

We looked at Franklin's list and discussed whether or not some of the virtues listed by Franklin need new definitions for the modern world. They are as follows: Temperance (self-control), Silence, Order (organization), Resolution (Determination), Frugality (thrift) , Industry (hard work), Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility and Chastity (sexual purity). We asked: should we subtract from the list Franklin made to "fit" it to today's world, or should we add to it?

Here's the list Period One came up with:
being a leader
being peaceful
being honest
being law-abiding
being in control of one's self
valuing education
being free
respecting equality
being respectful
following the Golden Rule
being a patriot

In your post you might consider any of the following questions:

• Which of these qualities (from the Period One list) do you think are the most important in today's society?
• Which of the Period One list qualities are of less importance in today's society?
• Which of the qualities from Franklin's list are most important?
• Which of the qualities from Franklin's list have little relevance in today's world?
• If you were going to make a list for your peers and yourself to follow, which ones would you choose?
• Which specific qualities in Franklin's list of virtues might be undervalued?

American Authors Post

So, why don't we post this week on whom you've chosen for your author study and why. I'd like to hear your reasons for chosing the author, the time period, even the genre (i.e. why you chose a poet, or a horror writer...) Rachel Gordon sent me a link that I found very interesting. If any of you hasn't chosen an author (!), you might want to choose Robert Frost. Shortly, they are going to post a new poem by him that's just been found and verified. Exciting stuff. It could be the centerpiece for a very cool multi-genre paper!

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen

This week we are going to look at another opinion question, but I am going to ask you to practice developing support for your answer from the texts we are going to read. Some of you are reading three texts (Bradford, Morton and Hawthorne) about the Merrymount incident, and some of you are reading two texts (Bradford and Morton).

One of the strains that might be interesting to consider in relation to these texts is who you think, based on the texts and the author motivations discussed in class, might be the least biased observer. Bradford, with his desire to tell the unvarnished truth? Morton, with his nothing-to-lose attitude? Hawthorne who is wrestling with the legacy of his family and his Puritan heritage?

Another strain that you might consider is the following question. What is it that makes people want to write accounts of their experiences such as Bradford and Morton did? Do people write such accounts today? If so, for what purpose? If you were going to write such an account, what would you consider important enough to use as your theme?

YOU SHOULD HAVE A BLOG !!

WELCOME TO THE ENGLISH 11 BLOG!

REMEMBER THE RULES: This BLOG must remain appropriate...you are putting it on the WORLD WIDE web, you know....

This is a site where you can post and comment on the literature that we are reading. Sometimes we will discuss deep ideas and sometimes we will just have fun; fun that might lead to deeper things. This is one of those weeks.

Thanks for the GREAT comments in regard to the first readings. I am impressed. I would like to turn your attention now to our three essential questions: What does it mean to be an American? What is the American Dream? What (or who) is the quintessential American?

Let's play with the concept of America and the word "quintessential". Merriam Webster defines quintessential as 1 : the purest form of something 2 : the most perfect type or example. In an article on About.com on Benjamin Franklin, Mary Ballis says "Historians have called him the quintessential American because of his creative pragmatism, scientific innovation, and democratic spirit."

http://inventors.about.com/od/fstartinventions/a/Franklin.htm

In your opinion,

1.What is the quintessential American music? Explain your choice!
2.What is the quintessential American food? Describe briefly.
3.What is the quintessential American literature? Why?
4.What does the quintessential American town look like? Describe briefly.
5.What is the quintessential American sport? Why?