Transcendentalist Journal Entry #4

Transcendentalist Journal Entry #4
Today is a beautiful day. The sun is shining brightly and the air smells sweet. It is a little bit chilly, but the sun makes it warm enough that one would only need a light jacket on. The wind is blowing softly, making the bare branches of the trees sway slightly. It adds to the chill, but still doesn't make it too cold. The way that the sun filters through the trees is very pretty, and it does much to lift my spirits. I can hear my neighbor's dog barking, but that doesn't bother me as much as it used to. Everything seems very fresh-like spring is right around the corner, waiting to come out. The sky is very blue with very few clouds, and everything is very bright. I can hear the wind whistle through the trees and the dead leaves. All of the plants are starting to look green again. I can't wait for spring to come.
Today Nature lifted my spirits. Tech Week starts tomorrow, and so I have to get my Presidential Report and many other pieces of homework done today- which is a bummer. Getting to take a quick break outside made me feel happy. It readied me to spend the rest of the afternoon at my computer getting to know more about FDR than I have ever wanted to know in my entire life.
Nature can make people feel better. It can act to lift people out of sadness, and give them something to be happy about. It can also make people feel renewed- especially during the spring.

Transcendentalist Journal Entry #3

Transcendentalist Journal Entry #3
 It was very foggy today when I went outside to retrieve my wayward dog, Jimi. The ground was quite wet. It was drizzling lightly, as though the world was getting a misting from the sprinklers that keep produce fresh at the supermarket. It was chilly outside, though it felt colder because of all the drizzle. Everything was soaked as though a thunder storm occurred the night before, even though one had never occurred- probably because of the ever-present drizzle. My dog doesn't like the wet, so it was suprising that I could get him to go outside at all. I called out for him, and looked around the outside of the house-he was shaking himself off underneath the cover by my garage. I went back inside and let him in through the side door.
When I called for him, and he didn't come, I became worried. It was cold, wet, miserable day so he would usually come back as soon as I called. The fog was very ominous and foreboding.
Sometimes nature can worry you. It can make you feel uncomfortable and upset- just by being cold and wet.

Transcendentalist Journal Entry #1

Transcendentalist Blog #1

Today, I went outside. It was cold. It was snowing lightly. The clouds were very dark, and it had looked like it was going to precipitate at some point. The snow started very softly, and I could barely see it at first. Then the snow picked up and started snowing faster. It was very quiet. The ground was very wet and soggy, and some parts of the ground were immersed in puddles of water. I was at AACS High school. The ground was covered in patches of half-dead grass. The snow didn't stick to the ground I was only outside very briefly because I was merely taking a short break from Hairspray practice.
The break from the hard work of Hairspray practice gave me time to relax. My time outside in Nature was very calming and exciting at the same time- mostly because it was snowing. Snow- even on the weekends- still excites me because my snow day have conditioned me to view the frozen precipitation as a blessing that would bring extra sleep and more time to eat food. The air outside felt brisk and refreshing. It was a great way for me to gather my thoughts. I was glad that I was able to go out, while also glad that it wasn't a very long excursion outside- it was very cold after all. the solitude and the silence of nature during the winter was very restful.
Nature can give one a much needed break from over-interaction with other human beings, which is something I value as an introvert. It allows one to take a short breather before diving back into the toils and stress of everyday human life. It also allows for longer, more substantial breaks in the case of heavy snow. In a sense, Nature provides people with a much needed break both mentally and physically.

Transcendentalist Journal #2

Transcendentalist Journal #2
Today when I went outside it was sunny. The fact that it was sunny was contrasted by that fact that it was also snowing. The rate at which it was snowing wasn't very hard to start with, and it became lighter and lighter until the snow eventually stopped falling. It was colder today than it was yesterday. It was also very windy, so the snow swirled around and all over the place as it fell. There wasn't many clouds overhead, but the ones that were there were fairly dark. Were there wasn't any clouds, the sky was a solid, brilliant blue. The branches of the trees were bare, and the ground was covered in more moss and acorns than grass. I could hear the branches of the trees sway in the wind. I could also hear the leaves on the ground be lifted up and begin to swirl around.
The fact that it was sunny outside while it was also snowing struck me as very odd. I have seen the sky raining while being sunny, but I have never seen it be sunny while snowing. It left me in a state of wonder.
Nature can bring new surprises into one's life. It allows one to experience something that they may have never experienced before.

"Open Letter"

1. The argument of "Open Letter" is that it is a teacher's duty to love and respect his or her students, regardless of how annoying or frustrating they might be. The author of "Open Letter", Chris Lehmann, argues this through a critique of a teacher who was in the news for posting mean comments about her students on her blog. Lehmann argues that a teachers job is to teach kids- not only about a certain subject, but also about what it means to be a responsible adult. By acting in a way that was mean and childish, the teacher in question was failing to show children the proper way to act in situatiations that are tiresome or frustrating. Lehmann also argues that, by loving and respecting one's students, a teacher nurtures their growth and earns their respect. By insulting her students, the teacher who made the comments on her blog seriously hurt her student's self-esteem- especially because some of those students may have been working really hard on certain assignments, and were striving to acheive at something. By insulting those students, Lehmann argues, the teacher shot down those children's aspirations and goals. Lehmann argues that it is the teacher's duty to encourage aspirations and goals within children-to teach the children, not just the subject. By neglecting to do so, the teacher who posted those mean comments failed her students.

2. Lehmann argues from pathos quite often in his "Open Letter". He does this by appealing to a sense of duty that teachers have, and by using the phrase that teachers don't "teach subjects- they teach kids". He also talks about how the teacher who insulted her students let them down, and how her students had aspirations of their own, and had worked hard on things. Lehmann also uses syntax to emphasize certain points in his arguement. He does this by putting only a single sentence on one line when talking about certain points. He also does this by using hyphenes to seperate certain descriptions- such as the descriptions of the fallable nature of kids. Lehmann also argues from ethos by putting down that he is the principle at a high school, and by relating some of the frustration he and other teachers have felt towards kids. He does this in order to make him looked like an informed person who has been in the same situation as the teacher he is writing about. This also makes him sound less preachy, and more mentoring. This is to make people more reseptive to his arguement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmj1ITl3dZg
The images that appear in this video are ones of people who have become become addicted to meth. Each person has at least two pictures-one of them before their meth addiction, and one of them after their meth addiction. The video argues against the use of meth by showing people exactly what they could turn into if they were to use meth. It uses the emotions of horror, pity, and disgust in order to convince people that one shouldn't use meth. The comment below the video helps to further the arguement by explaining that the people in the video are real meth addicts who had been arrested on multiple occasions for possesing drugs. This means that the effects of drugs on those people was real, and not fake. This prevents someone from ignoring the pictures as fakes. The description also explains how the people pictured became so grotesquely mutilated by informing the viewer that the hillucinatory side-effects of meth sometimes cause people to feel the sensation of bugs crawling under their skin, and how, because of this, people will try to tear away at their skin. This scientific exlanation further pushes the truth of what happens to meth abusers into the viewers mind. Some of the people in the video don't even resemble human beings after their addiction to meth. This shocks the viewer into not wanting to try meth. This ad works to persuade people away from meth use by showing people the shokingly disgusting, real-life affects meth has had on people.