Tattle tale? More like someone who wasn't afraid to speak out against what was wrong. In On the Waterfront, Terry Maloy is just that. His brother, Charlie, has a job with the local mob, and he has many connections to it. But then, he witnesses the murder of his acquaintance, Joey. Terry isn't to shaken, although he knew he had played a part by luring Joey on to the roof, where he had been pushed off of. Sometime later, Terry is at a church that is attacked by some local hooligans. He escapes with Joey's sister, Edy. Terry and Edy become friends and fall in love. But, Edy doesn't know that Terry had any involement with Joey's murder. When she does find out, Terry decides to testify against the mob in Joey's murder trial. Johnny Friendly, the mob boss, tries to have Charlie kill Terry but Charlie can't do it and ends up getting killed himself. And then Terry gets to testify and send the entire mob to prison.

According to the mob, Terry was a rat, or stool pigeon or whatever you want to call it. But to everyone else, he was a moral crusader. Terry stood up when no one else would, for fear of being murdered. They had good reason to too. Terry's situation was black and white. He could either be a coward and know that the woman he loved's brother could have been avenged. Or, he could've done what he did. The right thing. And risk his life to put behind bars the mob that controlled the waterfront.

Ethics is a big issue in the play All My Sons by Arthur Miller. Joe Keller is a man whose family matters most to him, even before society. He knowingly sent out faulty parts from the factory he owned with another man, Herbert "Steve" Deever. Steve was sent to jail, and Joe went free. Joe thought that since he had done it for his family, it was alright. "For you, a business for you." (70) was how Joe pleaded with his son Chris after the truth came out. When Chris' fiancee ,Ann, says that she doesn't want to talk to her father, Joe reasons with her saying " A daughter is a daughter and a father is a father" (49) It's as if he thinks that by having Ann make amends with the man he sent to prison will make his case of selling Deever out for his family better.
In Joe's situation, I would not have shipped out the parts. And, if for some reason I had, I would accept responsibility. What Joe did what ethically wrong. He endangered the lives of men who were risking their lives to defeat Japan and the Axis. I would definantly choose to help society rather than my family. But, if the situation were different I would respond differently. A situation where I would do the unethical thing would be if say, somone killed all the members of my family. (It's unlikely, but for the purposes of this hypothetical situation it happened) I would most certainly go after whoever killed them vigilanty style and kill them. My code of ethivs really depends on the situation, but with Joe, I think what he did was wrong.

So what led to the unethical choices of Anne Boleyn? As I said before, she was not a great beauty. "It was the fashion for women to use lotions to lighten their hair and skin" (Denny 18)
And, as one may or may not know Anne was considered "olivestra" or sallow. Her wit was and still is considered what made her alluring to the King, Henry the eighth.
At the time, marriages were very important to the parents. The men's family would receive dowry's and the women's family would often go up in rank if their daughter was married to someone of high birth. This is exactly what Anne's parents wanted. Mary, during her time as the King's mistress, had been married off to William Carey to disguise the affair. "Anne was now expected to draw a husband from among the very highest rank and title. This was why Mary's marriage to the second son of the Carey family was a disgrace." (Denny 23) The Boleyn's were schemers to be sure, so when a position opened for Anne to become the King's mistress and second wife, they jumped at the chance. Little did they know that it would kill Anne and her brother in the end.

My biography is on Anne Boleyn. Although our unit this quarter is based on ethical choices, her life seems to be without any of those. She was mistress of the king of England, Henry the eighth. Then she forced him to divorce his first wife (as well as sister in law) Catherine of Aragon. Catherine was old, so some might say it was understandable that she was divorced. Catherine and Henry hadn't produced a male heir, therefore no future king of England. Without an heir, the throne would go to whomever his daughter, Mary, married. One can assume that this was not Henry's favorite idea. So, Henry fnd Anne, who was sister to his other mistress Mary Boleyn. Anne was never beautiful, but she was clever and charming, which was what allured men to her.

"Anne’s charm lay not so much in her physical appearance as in her vivacious personality, her gracefulness, her quick wit and other accomplishments. She was petite in stature, and had an appealing fragility about her...she shone at singing, making music, dancing and conversation...Not surprisingly, the young men of the court swarmed around her."

Anne learned everything about charm and grace from her time spent in the french courts as a child and teenager. If it hadn't been for the french courts, Anne Boleyn might have never become queen. But then, she might have never died. So who can tell if the French harmed or hindered her? It leaves me thinking.

So Daylight Savings Time is Useful?

Studies show that daylight savings time actually does something. I thought it was just there to make me thoroughly annoyed when I end up waking up an hour late or early two Sundays of the year. Research conducted in Sweden showed that "the number of heart attacks dipped on the Monday after clocks were set back an hour, possibly because people got an extra hour of sleep" but also has the reverse effect in the spring. "But moving clocks forward in the spring appeared to have the opposite effect. There were more heart attacks during the week after the start of daylight saving time, particularly on the first three days of the week." So moving your clocks doesn't just annoy you, I can save or end your life. That makes me very happy for the fall daylight savings time, but extremely concerned for next spring. Sleep aparrently effects the cardio vascular system. Sleep effects blood pressure, inflammation, blood clotting, blood sugar, cholesterol and blood vessels. So, those few extra hours of sleep can really make or break your week. So what I'm saying people is, this doesn't just have to apply to daylight savings time. Students need to stop stressing and go to bed at reasonable times. When you go to bed at three and wake up at seven you wreck havoc on your poor body's health. So move away from the essay and go to sleep, or that essay might very weel be the death of you yet.

Ancient Greek Sexism

So, was Homer and old fashioned sexist or an early feminist. There's the arguement that Athena is portrayed as a strong woman. But, she's not a women is my argument. She's a goddess and therefore gets respect along with the other godesses. In myths when Hera, for example, would be insulted by a human, like when her husband would cheat on her with some princess, she would get angry. I mean she turned Io into a cow and then sent a fly to sting her forever. I would repect her if I lived at the time and knew what was good for me. Or when a man gazed upon Artemis while she was bathing, she turned him into a deer and made his own dogs eat him.

Another arguement for Homer being a sexist is how Penelope is portrayed as a housewife, sitting at home while her husband is away. Sitting, fretting for her husband's return. She doesn't go out looking for him or anything. And, Helen! Helen walks out on her husband and daughter to go on a romantic escapade witha younger man. Because all young women are so easily seduced and naive enough to leave their life behind for an attractive, foreign partner. Homer could have had the Trojan War start for another reason that didn't involve silly little girls. So, in my opinion Homer was the unfashioned sexist type.

Obama 08

Yes finally Barack Obama is getting the lead he deserves over John McCain. "The Illinois senator was up 8 points over presidential rival McCain in an average of polls released during the last week" Obama is slowly completing his journey to the White House. I certainly hope that Obama can keep his lead, but why wouldn't he? Two words for why John McCain won't win. Sarah Palin. With other articles coming out stating that even McCain is fed up with her antics, how on earth could she become vice president? With the continual hilarity of Palin's actions among other things, there's one thing we can all be certain of, Obama is going to keep his lead in the polls. He's neck and neck with McCain in states like North Carolina, which in the past have always voted Republican. McCain can boast no such feats. Obama also is also leading in states that are critical for winning the election such as Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio. "Obama leads by 11 points in Pennsylvania, 6 points in Ohio and 2 in Florida, according to the Realclearpolitics.com average of polls in those states. " This coming election represents change, and most importantly hope for the future of America.

Zeppelins! No, not Led.

Zeppelins are making a comeback in American skies. It's a whole new (old) way to go from point a to point b. Zeppelins went away after "1937 when the LZ-129 Hindenburg — the largest airship ever built — caught fire and burst into flames in front of thousands of spectators in Lakehurst, N.J., killing 35 of 97 people on board." It wouldn't want to ride one either after that happened. In fact I don't really want to ride one now. It's incredibly slow. But for those people out there who want to ride one but are still afraid, the public is assured that "While the Hindenburg was fueled by flammable hydrogen, the modern version is kept aloft by nonflammable helium." It's a learning experience and they did an very good job fixing the problem.
My only question though is why? Why would you want to ride one? It's not as if it would be an epic journey. Zeppelins is basically a metaphor for slow. So, although there is new hype about their comeback, I find myself unamused.

End of an Era

Ahhh, the nostalgia. It can't believe that polaroid is going out of business. But it's true " Polaroid is getting out of the Polaroid business." So the pictures were grainy at best, they were still really cool. When I was six I had my picture taken with Blue and Magenta from Blue's Clues. Even cooler than the characters was watching the picture develop. Not only is it sad, but what about those people who only have a polaroid camera? Polaroid is only going to have "Three plants that make large-format instant film will close by the end of the quarter, and two that make consumer film packets will be shut by the end of the year" It's so sad to think that those old albums full of polaroids are going to be the only things left of the original polaroids.

A Sad Day For Toyland

Hello again!

So this is my new language arts blog. Once again, hopefully everything is deep and intellectual. let's hope this one doesn't get deleted.