zzzzzzzzzzzDREAMS

This essay messed with my mind, for sure. Dreams are such a weird thing to think about, and it seemed like Erdrich didn't really come to a conclusion about what she thought about dreams, so I felt even more confused at the end of the essay than I did at the beginning! Her experience with the fence and the hunting park (which I think is mean, by the way) seemed so bizarre! It's hard to believe that she saw the park in her dream before she saw it in real life. She mentioned that dreams might make her able to "visit [her] own life in a future moment," which seemed to be the case with the fence.

What really made me wonder about dreams was David H. Lund's idea about "human dream-life as a possible model for a disembodied existence." I have mixed opinions about that idea. In a way I don't think I can make any assumptions about what dreams really are because I can't remember what I've dreamed about most of the time. That's weird in itself: that all these things are going on inside our heads--or wherever they're taking place--and then we can't even remember them. That's actually scary! Like, where are all these thoughts coming from? Maybe Voldemort is getting inside our heads and we just don't know it. That's the best explanation I can come up with.

My mind is blown, folks.

Overall, I liked this reading! Erdrich has a very pretty writing style; I loved all the descriptions she gave. She seems to have a very open-minded view of the world. She considered what skunks might be dreaming about, and she had a lot of respect for them and for nature in general. She was able to find beauty in the hunting park, where most people would view it as either a place for entertainment or something cruel to animals. She was able to look past that and enjoy her surroundings.

Talk of the Town

Both John Updike and Susan Sontag presented really different views of the 9/11 terrorist attack. Updike took a really emotional approach to his article, and Sontag took a really critical approach.

Updike's article contained a lot of vivid details because he actually witnessed the event. I've only talked to one person who was in New York when the attack took place. My aunt lives in Brooklyn, but she works in Manhattan. She said that when the World Trade Center was hit, everyone was trying to get away from it. She tried to go across the Brooklyn Bridge to get back home, and there were a ton of people on it. She said that the people on the bridge were afraid it would be bombed because there were so many people there in one place. I think that Updike's gripping descriptions could really get the reader on his side. Towards the end of his article, Updike talked about how the tragedy could make America more patriotic. If the reader could understand the tragedy from the imagery, that would make it easier for Updike to create a patriotic feeling in the reader. 

Sontag criticized America more than she criticized the actual terrorist attack. Updike portrayed America as innocent with the way he mentions a child watching the planes crash from a window. Sontag seems to think that America did some things to deserve that attack. She mentions that it could have been "a consequence of specific American alliances and actions." Sontag also disagrees with the way American leaders and media handled the terrorist attack. She seems to have lost faith in her nation, whereas Updike is made more patriotic and thinks that America is "a country worth fighting for."

Sontag's ideas are so extreme that they're hard for me to agree with. Also, it's weird to hear the terrorists considered to be anything but terrible. She says that they weren't cowards, and that's really the only time I've ever heard that. She mentioned how courage was a morally neutral virtue, so killing wouldn't necessarily make someone cowardly. Courageous or not, the terrorists still did an awful thing, and I think Sontag went a bit overboard with her accusations of America.

Introduction

Hey there! My name is Julie! I'm really excited for A.P. Compostion this year because I love reading and writing. I actually really enjoy all English and history classes. I took College Lit. last year, and it was the best class ever. I hope I enjoy A.P. Comp. as much as I enjoyed that.

I have a lot of hobbies. Sports are really important to me. I run cross-country in the fall and play soccer in the spring. I usually play for Madison F.C. in the fall, but I'm not going to this year because I don't have time with cross-country. I also love horses! I lease a horse named Annie, and she is amazing. I'm also a camp counselor at Hoofbeat Ridge this summer. It is a riding camp in Mazomanie, Wisconsin. I went to camp there when I was younger, and this is my eighth year going there; however, it's my first year as staff. So far I love it! Unfortunately, I don't have much access to a computer, so many of my posts will probably be late. Some of my other hobbies include sailing, skiing, and sleeping. I also have an obsession with pomagranites.

I'm not totally sure what I want to do after high school. I hope to go to college somewhere in Philadelphia because it is the best city ever. I think I want to major in either business or French, or maybe even both. I think it would be awesome to do international business. One of my life goals is to be fluent in multiple languages. My other life goal is to drive a really old truck at Hoofbeat called Rumble-squeaky.

That is all. Bye!