this is a picture of brady udall

The Men Who Stare At Goats -

I watched "The Men Who Stare At Goats" a few weeks ago, and i remember there being a few dominant Native American symbols that related to the class. One of them being being the Eagle Feather and The Sun Dance Ritual that we saw in the video in class. Can anyone remind me of what they were/meant?

Exam review

we aren't having an exam review session on monday or tuesday are we?

Exam Identifications

Would it be possible for someone to explain the fact of "popular sovereignty" and "manifest destiny" to me. I looked up some definitions online and i found nothing but confusing words piled together. THANKS

Wendigo

Since we are doing a project in class about the Wendigo, I thought it might be helpful to have a refresher on the background material of the Wendigo. The link below has information on the lore, culture, and actually historical events that are associated with Wendigo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendigo

Excommunication

After talking to the Mormon missionaries about excommunication I was curious about excommunications in general and did some research. I found an article by PBS that explains many of the reasons and processes of excommunication in Mormonism and in other religions.

http://www.pbs.org/mormons/faqs/controversies.html

The Life of a Mormon Missionary

Ever wondered what the life of a Mormon missionary is like? If you were not satisfied with the brief view into the lives of Mormon missionaries that we were given when the two sisters came to class then read the link below for more detailed information on their lives and rules.

http://www.lds4u.com/Missionaries/nutshell.htm

The Book of Mormon and the King James Bible

I noticed that Mormons typically only use the King James version of the Bible and found that this is because the King James version is believed to be the most accurate and least translated according to the Mormons. As the article from the link explains, there are many similarities between the Book or Mormon and the King James Bible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Mormon_and_the_King_James_Bible

Assassinations

Here is a list of all the Presidential Candidates who have been assassinated or someone has attempted to assassinate them. Ms. Deckard briefly talked about this in class but she did not specify any names so I thought it would interest some of you.

Date President/Candidate Attempt's Result Assailant, Motive

Jan. 30, 1835 Andrew Jackson failed Richard Lawrence,
declared insane
Apr. 14, 1865 Abraham Lincoln killed John Wilkes Booth,
Confederate loyalist
July 2, 1881 James Garfield killed Charles Guiteau,
disgruntled office-seeker
Sept. 6, 1901 William McKinley killed Leon Czolgosz,
anarchist
Oct. 14, 1912 Theodore Roosevelt
(former president, then-current candidate) wounded John Schrank,
declared insane
Feb. 15, 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt
(president-elect at the time) missed Guiseppe Zangara,
anarchist
Nov. 1, 1950 Harry S Truman failed Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola,
Puerto Rican independence
Nov. 22, 1963 John F. Kennedy killed Lee Harvey Oswald,
motive unknown
June 4, 1968 Robert F. Kennedy
(candidate) killed Sirhan Sirhan,
opposed Kennedy's views toward Israel-Arab conflict
May 15, 1972 George C. Wallace
(candidate) wounded Arthur Bremer,
motive unknown
Sept. 5, 1975 Gerald Ford failed Lynette Alice Fromme,
member of "Manson family"
Sept. 22, 1975 Gerald Ford failed Sara Jane Moore,
revolutionary
Mar. 30, 1981 Ronald Reagan wounded John W. Hinckley, Jr.,
declared insane

How many U.S. presidents have been assasinated?

Four presidents have been killed in office: Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy.

Blogging???

I was wondering if this is the last official week that we have to blog?

Interview with Brady Udall

This is an interesting piece about what Udall's thought process is when writing Edgar Mint!

http://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm?author_number=792

Facts about the 1970s

I think it is important when reading a book to understand a bit about the setting. Here are some facts about the 1970s.

Population: 204,879,000
Unemployed in 1970: 4,088,000
National Debt: $382 billion
Average salary: $7,564
Food prices: milk, 33 cents a qt.; bread, 24 cents a loaf; round steak, $1.30 a pound
Life Expectancy: Male, 67.1; Female, 74.8

It's kind of crazy to see how much things have changed, right? I wonder what it will be like twenty years from now...

Music in the 1970s

So I was trying to figure out what to blog about and I remembered the little scene where Edgar is in the car with Barry and he overdoses Barry which made me think of drugs which in turn made me think of music. So here is a little taste of what Barry may and most likely was listening too.

The early 1970s saw the rise of popular soft rock/pop rock music, with recording artists such as Fleetwood Mac, The Carpenters, Ray Stevens,Elton John, James Taylor, John Denver, The Eagles, America, Chicago,The Doobie Brothers, Paul McCartney and Wings, Bread and Steely Dan as well as the further rise of such popular, influential rhythm and blues (R&B) artists as multi-instrumentalist Stevie Wonder and the popular quintet The Jackson 5. A major event in music in the early 70s, were the deaths of popular rock stars Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison all at the age of 27. Funk, an offshoot of blues, was also very popular. The mid-1970s also saw the rise of disco music, which dominated during the last half of the decade with bands like the Bee Gees, ABBA, Boney M, Donna Summer, KC and the Sunshine Band, etc. In response to this, rock music became increasingly hard-edged with artists such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelinand Black Sabbath. Minimalism also emerged, lead by composers such as Philip Glass, Steve Reich and Michael Nyman. This was a break from the intellectual serial music of the tradition of Schoenberg which lasted from the early 1900s to 1960s.

As we have learned previously in class discussions - music has a great affect on culture. Just like with Arnold Friend, the music in the 70s helped propel drug usage.

Catcher in the Rye

interesting article on wikipedia about the life of Mark Chapman, the man who killed John Lennon and how he said the Catcher in the Rye motivated him to do this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_David_Chapman

Banned and challenged books

I was wondering which were books were the most controverial books written and came across a list of books that have been banned, challenged, or censored in some way.

http://www.banned-books.com/bblista-i.html

does anyone know what were going to be doing in class all week since we are done with Edgar Mint? Are our last grades of the year going to be the journals due tomorrow??

The Ex-Mormon Forums

http://www.exmormonforums.com/

"Get help in having your name removed from the records of the LDS Church. Post your questions or your updates on your journey out of Mormonism. Get help with stubborn Bishops or Stake Presidents. Interact with those who have already had their names removed."

http://www.mormonapologetics.org/

"When we look at what the Egyptologists and ancient Egyptians taught about Sobek, we are in for a real surprise. It just so happens that Sobek literally is “the idolatrous god of Pharaoh!” Lets consider the Egyptian evidence."

Nuff' said.

Sister Bunker and Sister Javier

Something I thought was strange is how both of the Mormon girls referred to each other as sister: Sister Bunker, Sister Javier. I would feel really weird doing that, like I wasn't me anymore. After I thought about it from their point of view it kind of made more sense to me. Okay, so in Jesus' eyes we're all brothers and sisters sorta thing, so that's why they do it, out of respect and kindness towards the other person.. makes sense.

Mormons

I just wanted to say how I enjoyed the Mormon's... or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints coming to visit us. I found how they viewed things very interesting, considering everything they do is so different from us. I understand that they need to be completely focused therefore don't have the opportunity to talk to their families a lot. That is something I wouldn't be able to deal with. To be away from my family for a year and rarely ever talk to them, I wouldn't like it considering I'm very close with my family. Also, how they can only listen to let's the say the Christian radio station and no other songs, no television. I don't know if I could live like that for a year or a year in a half. I admire their perseverance, I must say.

So I thought it was really interesting that the Mormon missionaries had to spend their own money on their missions. I would think the church would pay for it. On wikipedia, it says that unless they suddenly decide to be a missionary, they save up money their whole childhood just to go on the missions that cost $400 a month! I thought that was interesting.

We had a different bonus than the Mark Jacobsen one. Ours was Sylvia Ortiz. I originally put a poet but that's the wrong answer. Does anyone know who she is?

test

on the test one of the quotes "I don't know if I should eat shit or go blind." does anyone know the significance of this quote?

Bonus on the test

Our bonus question was "Who was Mark Jacobsen?" Does anyone know who that is, beause I do not.

The Water Method Man

This is the other book cover that Ms. Deckard handed out yesterday. I have not read the book but it is the same author as A Prayer for Owen Meany so I assume that it is good. Once again, we do not have any summer reading books this summer, so if you have some free time, read it!

I attached the review from the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/15/lifetimes/irving-watermethod.html

A Prayer for Owen Meany

Yesterday Ms. Deckard handed out two little pieces of paper with the covers of two book on them. A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of those books. She chose this book because the character of Edgar Mint, and the character of Owen Meany are very similar. So, if you liked The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, you will probably like A Prayer for Owen Meany. I actually read it sophomore year, and I really enjoyed it. It is a very easy read and it is a very good book.

P.S. Since we do not have summer reading this summer, I suggest you read this book for your pleasure. There will not be a test on it!

http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/15/lifetimes/10212.html

Do the two journals due tomorrow have to be from "Richland" or can we choose one from "Stoney Run" if we want to? I assume we can since all the questions don't really deal with a specific part of the book and are pretty general.

BANNED BOOKS

So while writing one of my journals I was looking at banned books, and came across this awesome website. Check it out, it will be much help in understanding the banning process as well as which books are banned and why (something I did not know to much about) so...CHECK IT OUT!



http://www.infoplease.com/spot/banned-kids-books.html

Journals

Did Ms. Deckard told us that we have to turn the journals in at turnitin.com?

Just Wondering

I don't know if we already talked about this in class but I was just wondering about how was polygamy part of the Mormon religion? What's the point of putting polygamy as part of the church doctrine?

Yesterday

I missed class yesterday because i had a doctors appointment... did anyone take notes they can send me please? and was there a quiz? if so... what was it on.
-thanks

Last Name?

What are Clay and Lana's last name? I want to put it in one of my journals but I can not find there last name. Does anyone know?

i know this was a really long time ago but im just going through the book again to study for the test... in the chapter "letting loose the beasts" about brains birthday party is there any significance to the pinata not breaking?

Challenged Books

In class we discussed how Edgar Mint contains material that should consider it a "challenged book." So I decided to research what makes a book challenged. I went to the official American Library Association website:
Over the past eight years, American libraries were faced with 3,736 challenges.

* 1,225 challenges due to “sexually explicit” material;
* 1,008 challenges due to “offensive language”;
* 720 challenges due to material deemed “unsuited to age group”;
* 458 challenges due to “violence”
* 269 challenges due to “homosexuality”; and
* 103 materials were challenged because they were “anti-family,”
* 233 were challenged because of their “religious viewpoints.”
Approximately 31% were in classrooms.

Angola Rodeo

I was wondering about the history of the Angola Rodeo so I searched it and this is what I came up with.
http://angolamuseum.org/?q=RodeoHistory

Derrick Todd Lee

Here is a link to the serial killer, Derrick Todd Lee, of Baton Rouge, LA. He killed a total of 7 girls, and they all had brown hair. He is now in the Angola prison.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/baton_rouge/11.html

Mormon Beliefs

I was wondering what the exact beliefs of Mormons were and I stumbled across a website that helped me understand the Mormon religion more http://www.mormonbeliefs.org/

E.M. Study Guide

Can everyone send me their notes on the school email? I'm trying to put together a study guide and I will send it to everyone by Wednesday!

Top 10 unusual Mormon beliefs

http://www.articledirectory.name/Art/112844/111/10-of-the-Most-Crazy-and-Bizarre-Mormon-Beliefs-Mormon-Church-LDS-Beliefs.html

Famous Mormons

Here is a link to a site which shows all Celebrities who happen to be Mormon. It's pretty interesting what some of the names on there are.

http://www.famousmormons.net/

MOVIE

Info about the Edgar Mint movie:
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/427479/The-Miracle-Life-of-Edgar-Mint/overview

article from ny times magazine

Hey yall, ms sauer showed me this article and I thought i would share it with you guys as it deals with how pointless senior year is and i know we are all pretty ready to graduate right now! haha....but yeah it makes a quick refrence to mormons too....

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/magazine/28FOB-wwln-t.html?scp=1&sq=The%20way%20we%20live%20now:%20Class%20Dismissed&st=cse

Brigham Young

Just to give everyone a better idea of what he looked like - here is a picture of the statue mentioned by Edgar of Brigham Young.

Nicholas Sparks

Hello everyone! So I just finished the book and I just want to make a few comments to keep everyone on the edge of their seats. First of all, I did not expect the ending at all. Second, I caught myself a couple of times almost in tears. This novel reminds me of a Nicholas Sparks novel (girls you know what I'm talking about). The ending was so bitter sweet and it leaves you with that sense of wow this was a really sad story and so typical of life. It is taking all my strength not to reveal the ending but alas I will only advise you to read on my fellow classmates!

mormon visitos

Hey, I wasn't in town on Friday so I missed the Mormons...I was so bummed out. Did anything interesting happen? Did anyone ask anything out of line that caught the girls off guard?

Leggo My Eggo

Edgar munches on some delectable Eggo waffles. Eggo waffles came out in 1953. The original name was actually Froffles. Edgar also dines on some Wheaties, those date back to 1923.

Forums?!

Yes, apparently The Church of LDS has it's very own forums.

http://www.lds.net/forums/

"A very good person told a friend of mine that she'd get married in the Spirit World. After she thought about it, the idea came home to her that it was a reasonably good idea if it was the Will of God for her." - A prime of example of would you will probably read.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/mormon/mormon34.html

Here is an artical explaining the relationship between Mormons and Native Americans.

6th period... deep fried coke

here is an image of deep fried coke... yum...

http://www.psycomp.com/images/fried_coke.jpg

Mormon Leadership

for those who aren't aware of the inner working of the Mormon church, the heads of the church form "the presidency". the current president of the church is Thomas S. Monson. If anyone is interested, check out this site

In in our class the other day we were talking about how to determine what year the book is set in. I noticed that in the section "The Kum-N-Go" it says that a Coke is 15 cents. This obviously is very cheap and proves that it is set sometime in the 70s.

The History of Dum Dum Pops

Everybody loves candy. Maybe not in excess, maybe not certain types of brands, but there's always something that just soothes that sweet tooth. For Cecil, that candy is the Dum Dum Pop.

When reading the novel, I couldn't help but wonder if the Dum Dum Pops had any significance. They are small and disposable, but enjoyable. After much thought and continuously reading and rereading the passages, I came to the startling conclusion that the Dum Dum Pops do in fact have no significance other than being a rather cheap and accessible candy. It isn't surprising that they appear at Willie Sherman. They are widely available and cheap. But for something so ubiquitous, from whence did these miniature syrup sticks come?

Three score and seventeen years ago John Philips brought forth on this continent a new lollipop, conceived in Bellevue, Ohio, and dedicated to the proposition that all candy should be delicious.

Sorry about that, anyway, 29 years later in 1954 the Dum Dum Pop was bought by the Sprangler Candy Company and production was moved to Bryan, Ohio. Because of this, Bryan is now considered the "Dum Dum Capitol of the World". I wish they had thought that title through a little bit more, though, but I guess if they didn't consider the easily misunderstood meaning, then they deserve the title.

One thing Dum Dum Pops are pretty popular for is their myriad of flavors. Many candies just come with boring old flavors like "strawberry" or "lemon", but no. Dum Dum Pops were like, "Hey, you know what? Let's make a root beer flavored lollipop." I'm sure that many people were like, "Dude, no, that's ridiculous," but you know what? They were wrong. Anyway, you can see a list of all flavors, continued and discontinued, here. Also note the gnarly nomenclature of some of the flavors. There's also a flavor called chocolate caramel, which I am interested to try.

Furthermore, the lollipop's siteweb has a poll for flavors, which reminds me of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. To my knowledge, there has yet to be a Stephen Colbert Dum Dum, but I suppose that has to do with the name of the product and bad publicity and all that. You can vote for flavors here. Also, you can play some of their flash games. Or watch their video which appears to contain a man in a costume shaped like a base drum wearing a hat. I love it.

Enjoy! <3 Shiloh.

Quotes

Here are two quotes I found about the Mountain Meadows Massacre!

"If any miserable scoundrels come here, cut their throats." Brigham Young

"The Mountain Meadows Massacre stands without a parallel amongst the crimes that stain the pages of American history. It was a crime committed without cause or justification of any kind to relieve it of its fearful character... When nearly exhausted from fatigue and thirst, [the men of the caravan] were approached by white men, with a flag of truce, and induced to surrender their arms, under the most solemn promises of protection. They were then murdered in cold blood." William Bishop, Attorney to John D. Lee

Compromise of 1850

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compromise_of_1850

Link to wikipedia website about Compromise of 1850 or the 3/5 Compromise

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_bloody_board_game

This is an artical I found about a board game called "King Phillip's War" and it's about the clash between Native American and colonists in the 17th century.

interesting facts on mormons...enjoy!

http://www.worldviewweekend.com/worldview-times/article.php?articleid=1588

In the book Edgar keep talking about a place called the ward. Does anyone know what that is?

MS. DECKARD!

Is there any way I can tell how many times I've blogged per week? I'm pretty sure I blogged two times this week, but not positive so I wanted to see if there was any way to check.

Lana and Clay

I was watching Criminal Minds a few days ago and there was a case where a man had kidnapped a little girl and it was possible she was dead. A detective told his unit some statistics that I thought were very interesting so I researched it a little further.

He said the death of a child is voted to be the hardest thing a couple could go through. However only 16% of marriages who experience death of a child go through with divorce. "Less than half of those divorced reported the death of their child as a factor in the decision to divorce." Depending on how Lana and Clay continue to act toward each other, odds are for them that they wont get divorced.

"Experts say that parents typically never "get over" the loss of a child, but rather learn to adjust and to integrate the loss into their lives. Still, the death of a child remains one of the most stressful life events imaginable. One-fourth to one-third of parents who lose a child report that their marriage suffers strains that sometimes prove irreparable." This is a good quote i found, by Jane Brody, that further explained Clay and Lana's relationship after the tragic death of their son.

XTRA CREDITTT

Does anyone know how much the extra credit is worth? I know its this weekend... but what time does it start and how far away is it from Metairie? How long do you think it is?

ANSWER FROM MS. D - THE TRIP IS 2 1/2 HOURS. HERE'S THE LINK TO THE DRIVING DIRECTIONS: DIRECTIONS

Ques.

Okay, so the day that Sunny finds Edgar by the windmill doing his thing... does she actually know what he's doing or no. I think she does but just checking to be sure. She says how she won't tell on him and she sees him going out here a lot lately. In return he states he won't tell on her either.. for what exactly?

byu

I found a lot of information on Brigham Young from the BYU website. I attached a paragraph about he founding of the university that I thought was particularly interesting.

The university traces its roots to Utah's rich pioneer heritage. The original school, Brigham Young Academy, was established Oct. 16, 1875, on a little over one acre of land in what is now downtown Provo. At that time, Brigham Young, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, charged that all secular learning at the institution should be fused with teachings from the scriptures. Speaking to Academy Principal Karl G. Maeser, President Young said: "Brother Maeser, I want you to remember that you ought not to teach even the alphabet or the multiplication tables without the Spirit of God." BYU has remained true to that original charge.

For more information check out the BYU history site. http://yfacts.byu.edu/viewcategory.aspx?id=81

Miracle Life of E.M.--> MADE INTO A MOVIE,,,

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/427479/The-Miracle-Life-of-Edgar-Mint/overview

Angola Rodeo

This weekend is the Angola Rodeo! Here is the website.
http://www.angolarodeo.com/

James Bond: Quantum of Solace

While I was watching Quantum of Solace last night, I found another Native American reference that pertained to what we were doing in the beginning of the semester. The type of Helicopter that tried to shoot down Bond's plane is called the "UH-1 Iroquois." It is a helicopter that has been since the early 60s. Here is another reference to add to the list!


If your interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UH-1_Iroquois

This is an excerpt from an article I found called, "Joseph Smith descendant has a story to tell". It talks about how rough it was to grow up Mormon and the restrictions they had:

"I am writing to tell you what it has been like to be raised a descendant of Joseph Smith Jr. and Emma Hale Smith.

We were not allowed to talk to Mormons (or anyone) about our lineage. We were raised to believe that Mormons would either try to kill us or recruit us (and as children, we didn't know which would be worse). We were encouraged to run from anyone with a Book of Mormon. We were sent to Baptist and Methodist churches and told to stay away from any other religion.

We were taught that the "Mormons in Utah" wanted to kill our great-great grandfather (though I didn't know it then, I now think they were speaking of Joseph Jr. and Emma's son, Alexander) and we were in danger around "them" (the "Utah Mormons").

The ironic part is that when my mother became very ill (when I was about 10 years old) it was a Mormon family (LDS) that took care of my two sisters, my brother and me for weeks. When we were welcomed in the LDS Church, we were surprised (and relieved). "

The whole article can be found at http://mormontimes.com/studies_doctrine/research_discoveries/?id=14281&hStack=1

Famous Mormons

Some famous people that either were mormons or are currently mormons are:

Amy Adams
Aaron Eckhart
John Heder
Katherine Heigl
David Archuleta
The Killers
Gladys Knight
Marie and Donny Osmond

And more at http://famousmormons.net/

Mormons

Since we are beginning to study more about Mormons as they become a more significant part of the story, I thought I would post a link to a site about Mormon beliefs.

http://www.mormonbeliefs.org/

America: The History of Us

Before i saw the movie, The Clash of the Titans, there was a preview for a documentary on the History Channel called "America: The History of us." I'm very interested in the way they're going to depict the Native Americans. If it is good, we should watch that segment in class. Everyone should check it out!

It premiers Sunday, April 25th, at 8pm on the history channel. Check out the link: http://www.history.com/shows/america-the-story-of-us

Inspiration

http://www.ldsfilm.com/announced/MiracleLife.html

As a seventh-grader in rural St. John's, Ariz., Brady Udall once played a football game against a ramshackle rival school on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation.

The reservation school had the hopeless air of a prison. Its football field was littered with broken glass, and a cactus grew in one end zone. After St. John's beat the ragtag Apache players by some lopsided score, Udall and his teammates climbed back onto their shiny new bus to head home.

Udall was gazing out of the bus when Apache students began hurling bottles, folding chairs and chunks of concrete from a nearby three-story dorm building, denting the bus and shattering its windows. In the seconds before the barrage, Udall locked eyes with an Apache boy staring back at him through the bars of one of the dorm's windows. The youth had broken teeth, scabbed hands and a expression of weary disdain.

"For some reason, the look on that boy's face has never left me," says Udall, now 31. "I knew one day when I wrote a novel it would be the first thing I'd write about. I'll never know anything about that boy, but as the god of my own little universe, I decided to give him a story and a name."

Richland

http://utah.hometownlocator.com/ut/salt-lake/richland.cfm

This is the only Richland in Utah.