My name is Hope Johnson.
I like to sing,"" and I am training in Classical opera.
I want to go to Belmont University in Nashville Tennessee to study vocal performance.
My favorite movie is Pirates of the Carribean and I have an impressive British accent.
Genesis 1-3
In the beginning, God made everything. Everything in nature and everything that we could ever want. God said "let there be..." and there was. First there was light, dark and the sky. Then there was evening and morning. Then the waters were gathered to one place, and the earth brought forth plants. Then God made two great lights to divide the day from the night. Then the waters brought forth creatures and God made birds. Then God made every living creature that lived on the earth. Then God made man. He said "let us make man in our image.... have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thmiringat creepeth upon the earth". So God made everything, and basically gave it all to man to have dominion over and control. The best most beautiful playground/zoo/garden at your fingertips. Everyday could be a Saturday, not having to worry or go to work. So of course we had to screw it up. The clever and sneaky serpent can be blamed. But, honestly it's still all Adam and Eve's fault. The serpent tempted Eve telling her that she could be greater than God if she ate from the tree. She fell for it. That may be man's fatal flaw, wanting the next greatest thing. To be better or more powerful than others. Of course they were banished from the perfect garden and doomed to labor pains and yard work. The serpent probably got the raw end of the deal though.
Bethany's Response:
I love how you brought up having the most beautiful garden/ playground at your fingertips. I can’t even imagine just how perfect Eden was. Just imagine not having to work or worry about anything and God just providing us with everything needed (I mean He does, but the not having to work part). That would be pretty ideal for most if not all of us. Only after we sinned did we have to work and feel the pain of labor. And you know the pretty cool thing, God had mercy on man by giving the serpent to worst end of the deal because according to our human way of thinking then Adam and Eve and the rest mankind would have had to slither around without arms and legs. When you wrote that man’s greatest flaw could be their desire for the next greatest thing, I definitely agree. That’s how Apple, Samsung, all of those companies out there get their business. They rely on people to want the newest and the best things, so when Adam and Eve were tempted with being like God. They knew God was great, and if they ate from the tree they would know the difference between good and evil. They surely found out.
On the "On the Marionette Theatre"
This has been one of my favorite readings so far and I don't even know where to start. I keep on having random thoughts pop up that sort of relate to it. Some of these thoughts:
My dad says that humans have two things, an almost unlimited capacity to be creative and use our skills to make things, and a totally unlimited capacity for sin
What kind of grown man plays with puppets?
I honestly don't think that dancing would be any fun to watch if it wasn't done by some kind of organic creature
The faults in art are some of the best parts, live music is good because it's real and almost tangible, the lead singer was flat on part of it, someone missed a chord, some dude coughed in the background. Dancing wouldn't be entertaining or fun if it wasn't for the risk and mistakes.
Last weekend I saw the Quartet with Maggie Smith, a movie about a retired opera singer. One of the main conflicts was that she had become the best when she was younger and set a new standard. When she got older, she became scared that she couldn't live up to her own legacy and quit singing.
Let me just say, great movie. Maggie Smith is the best. Anyways, that's one of the things I thought of when I read the essay.
But the dude who plays with dolls has an interesting contention. I figure he's basically saying that for something to be truly beautiful and maintain its beauty it either has to be ignorant enough to be unaware of this perfection, or so good and divine that it is totally and aware and expectant of perfection.
Honestly, you could write papers and papers about the puppet essay. Ain't nobody got time for dat.
Bethany's Response
What your dad says make complete sense. With all the the amazing things we can do, we will always sin. I guess the grown man that plays with puppets started off as a little boy that played with puppets and never grew up... A bit odd. I don't think that watching a puppet dancing would be entertain either because half of the show is seeing the passion the dancer has for dancing and expressing themselves. With what you said about the faults in art making it the best part, I think if art was perfect then their would be nothing for us to criticize or even to improve at. That movie sounds great and I could understand why someone who had a achieved greatness would want to stop before they ruined their legacy. True beauty through ignorance and diviness, nice way of putting it. You probably could write a lot of essays on this, but I won't. But, overall I thought it was great so maybe I wouldn't mind writing ONE essay on it
March 13th Response
The cave reading was pretty weird. I do not think that I would be able to understand it without the diagram and extensive explanation. I am still not sure what Socrates was getting at. Honestly, I think that a lot of philosophers just pulled an Inception. They act mysterious and use some big names to get everyone to the theater, and then they use an interesting concept with weak writing to call it a good movie. It really isn't. It was weird. It was not made to make something beautiful or artistic or an excellent work where everyone did there best for the sake of perfecting their art and doing their best. It was made to make money. But everyone fell for it, Inception was very successful in theaters (and the bank) and everyone went along with the "Socrates is a genius" bandwagon. After the past two years of AP history classes with substandard teachers, you learn how to sound smart while knowing nothing. Jamie Hintson and I have developed a few mantras to help with our lack of proper history instruction. NUTPOC = never underestimate the power of crap. MUS = make up ssshtuff... I think Socrates used this very well. He thought up a really complicated theory scenario thing that could be applied to religion, politics, psychology, whatever. It's like he got a patent for everything with a remote. It applies to a lot of stuff. I was listening to The Cave this morning (Mumford and Sons). "So come out of your cave walking on your hands, and see the world hanging upside down..." Cave theory shoutout. Well done Mumford. Well done.3
Bethany's Response
Cool reference to Inception. I've never actually seen it though. Well I don't think I have. I've heard of all the "make up crap" for AP essays and all that. You know give the illusion that you know what you're talking about even though you dont because you teacher never taught you anything and when you take the test, mysterious writing prompts pop up that you have no idea about so you just write down anything and everything so the Collegeboard people or whoever can read or send out your essays and read them and laugh and give you a score just for trying. Ok. I dont know if that made any sense i thing that was just a little rambling rant from an AP student. But either way, never underestimate the power of crap is a great mantra becuase you know A LOT of people make their living off it. Politicians are always trying to sell some crap to get them elected or whatever and they never get the chance to carry it out or never planned to in the first place. Pretty cool that you happened to listen to The Cave the morning before you wrote your response.
Book 2
This has been an interesting novel / story / poem thing. I think that it is extremely creative for Milton to have used Satan and the fallen angels to represent the corrupt government he was experiencing at the time. A little risky obviously. I doubt that any writer would take that chance now, although Milton did cleverly veil his writing. I feel like there is a song reference I should or could be making here, but I can't think of one. Something Avett Brothers or Mumford and Sons. As we were discussing book two in class, it struck me how similar the Republic parliment scene with the fallen angels is with many other political situations ( obviously the Republic and Cromwell issue of Milton's day). The first thought that popped in my head when reading and discussing this was Hitler's regime and Germany's situation in the 1900's, partly because we're studying it in US history right now. I suppose it is somewhat ironic, but you can definitely compare Hitler (the nazis, Germany) and Satan (the fallen angels). Early 1900's, Germany is full of it and wants to demonstrate their power and take some more control because they are German and they just think they are the coolest thing. Pre-fall, Satan and some of the angels become prideful and maybe think they are better than God and try to take more power. WWI, Germany declares war on everyone, everyone declares war on Germany, eventually that doesn't go over too well with the Germans. The angels rebel and get kicked out of heaven, yeah bad move. Inbetween state sucks all around. WWII Hitler and the Nazis have taken power and attempt to take over the world with the justification that Germans are the supreme creatures. Angels plan the fall of man. Germany does not win the war, the angels are punished. The end.
Bethany
Interesting that you compare Hitler to Satan. I would've have thought about it at the time. Both are trying to have more power than they already had and it ultimately lead to their downfalls. They obviously felt a certain way about their action. Satan sometimes had thoughts that he did the wrong thing and Hitler ended up committing suicide. Also I think it's funny how they both lose. Germany not only loses their leader, they lose WWII, making it their second World War loss. The angels are punished with Hell. Forever. And Ever. I guess that's what happens when you try to fight God. I feel like both Hitler and the Nazis and Satan and the angels were fighting a battle they really wanted to win, believed they could win, but was impossible for them to win. When Satan and the angels rebelled the probably thought they were right for whatever reason because otherwise they would not have rebelled in the first place. But I wonder if it was worth it? Did they really want hell when they chose to rebel? Hitler wanted to prove that Germany was all big and bad sending Jews, gypsies, and homosexuals to concentration camps and killing millions of them and taking France and other countries. They would've been some what successful with taking most Europe if they didn't try to stir up the neutral United States. Bad idea and stupid alliance with Japan. But anyway, they lost. Good comparison.
Paradise Lost Conclusion
Well, big spoiler alert: Eve ate the fruit. Oops. But I guess we all kinda saw that one coming. So the devil went down to paradise, to ruin mankind and whatnot. You would think that the new earth would have a better security system. And who knew that satan had the #transformationtuesday disguise trick. Not me. I do not even know if one of the X men has that super power. I think one of the bad guys does, she was a little blue alien assassin thing. Pretty cool. That would be a fun super power. And what kind of archangel can't tell the difference between the freaking devil, and a little baby angel cherub? There was a line from the Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downey Jr., "No girl wants to marry a doctor that can't tell if a man is dead or not!" I hope that Uriel got some kind of official reprimand from an authority figure. That little mix up probably initiated several new reforms about who gets let into the New Earth and the screening process for security guards. So blah blah blah, Satan hops the fence and climbs a tree. It just now occurred to me that Snow White could be some kind of parallel to the fall and salvation. She's all innocent in the forest with her friendly dwarfs, shes tempted by the evil witch or whatever, eats the apple, side note: what kind of idiot eats food from creepy strangers in the woods? She deserved to fall into a deep deep sleep or die or whatever happened. Anyways, eats the apple, falls asleep, random prince with no character traits except handsome and prince comes to save her. And why did the evil witch try to kill her anyway? She was jealous. So maybe the whole fall was based on a trick from the green eyed monster. Anyways Caleb, it's been real. Thanks for teaching and being cool and stuff. Contrary to popular belief, students do want to learn and be challenged and stuff. I've felt somewhat insulted this year by my teachers because I know what I'm capable of and I want people to expect me to be smart and do well and not just expect me to shuffle onto college in pursuit of my MRS. But you've been a really good teacher, so keep on trucking, do your thing, and whatever else. Congratulations.
My name is Hope Johnson.
I like to sing,"" and I am training in Classical opera.
I want to go to Belmont University in Nashville Tennessee to study vocal performance.
My favorite movie is Pirates of the Carribean and I have an impressive British accent.
Genesis 1-3
In the beginning, God made everything. Everything in nature and everything that we could ever want. God said "let there be..." and there was. First there was light, dark and the sky. Then there was evening and morning. Then the waters were gathered to one place, and the earth brought forth plants. Then God made two great lights to divide the day from the night. Then the waters brought forth creatures and God made birds. Then God made every living creature that lived on the earth. Then God made man. He said "let us make man in our image.... have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thmiringat creepeth upon the earth". So God made everything, and basically gave it all to man to have dominion over and control. The best most beautiful playground/zoo/garden at your fingertips. Everyday could be a Saturday, not having to worry or go to work. So of course we had to screw it up. The clever and sneaky serpent can be blamed. But, honestly it's still all Adam and Eve's fault. The serpent tempted Eve telling her that she could be greater than God if she ate from the tree. She fell for it. That may be man's fatal flaw, wanting the next greatest thing. To be better or more powerful than others. Of course they were banished from the perfect garden and doomed to labor pains and yard work. The serpent probably got the raw end of the deal though.
Bethany's Response:
I love how you brought up having the most beautiful garden/ playground at your fingertips. I can’t even imagine just how perfect Eden was. Just imagine not having to work or worry about anything and God just providing us with everything needed (I mean He does, but the not having to work part). That would be pretty ideal for most if not all of us. Only after we sinned did we have to work and feel the pain of labor. And you know the pretty cool thing, God had mercy on man by giving the serpent to worst end of the deal because according to our human way of thinking then Adam and Eve and the rest mankind would have had to slither around without arms and legs. When you wrote that man’s greatest flaw could be their desire for the next greatest thing, I definitely agree. That’s how Apple, Samsung, all of those companies out there get their business. They rely on people to want the newest and the best things, so when Adam and Eve were tempted with being like God. They knew God was great, and if they ate from the tree they would know the difference between good and evil. They surely found out.
On the "On the Marionette Theatre"
This has been one of my favorite readings so far and I don't even know where to start. I keep on having random thoughts pop up that sort of relate to it. Some of these thoughts:
- My dad says that humans have two things, an almost unlimited capacity to be creative and use our skills to make things, and a totally unlimited capacity for sin
- What kind of grown man plays with puppets?
- I honestly don't think that dancing would be any fun to watch if it wasn't done by some kind of organic creature
- The faults in art are some of the best parts, live music is good because it's real and almost tangible, the lead singer was flat on part of it, someone missed a chord, some dude coughed in the background. Dancing wouldn't be entertaining or fun if it wasn't for the risk and mistakes.
Last weekend I saw the Quartet with Maggie Smith, a movie about a retired opera singer. One of the main conflicts was that she had become the best when she was younger and set a new standard. When she got older, she became scared that she couldn't live up to her own legacy and quit singing.Let me just say, great movie. Maggie Smith is the best. Anyways, that's one of the things I thought of when I read the essay.
But the dude who plays with dolls has an interesting contention. I figure he's basically saying that for something to be truly beautiful and maintain its beauty it either has to be ignorant enough to be unaware of this perfection, or so good and divine that it is totally and aware and expectant of perfection.
Honestly, you could write papers and papers about the puppet essay. Ain't nobody got time for dat.
Bethany's Response
What your dad says make complete sense. With all the the amazing things we can do, we will always sin. I guess the grown man that plays with puppets started off as a little boy that played with puppets and never grew up... A bit odd. I don't think that watching a puppet dancing would be entertain either because half of the show is seeing the passion the dancer has for dancing and expressing themselves. With what you said about the faults in art making it the best part, I think if art was perfect then their would be nothing for us to criticize or even to improve at. That movie sounds great and I could understand why someone who had a achieved greatness would want to stop before they ruined their legacy. True beauty through ignorance and diviness, nice way of putting it. You probably could write a lot of essays on this, but I won't. But, overall I thought it was great so maybe I wouldn't mind writing ONE essay on itMarch 13th Response
The cave reading was pretty weird. I do not think that I would be able to understand it without the diagram and extensive explanation. I am still not sure what Socrates was getting at. Honestly, I think that a lot of philosophers just pulled an Inception. They act mysterious and use some big names to get everyone to the theater, and then they use an interesting concept with weak writing to call it a good movie. It really isn't. It was weird. It was not made to make something beautiful or artistic or an excellent work where everyone did there best for the sake of perfecting their art and doing their best. It was made to make money. But everyone fell for it, Inception was very successful in theaters (and the bank) and everyone went along with the "Socrates is a genius" bandwagon. After the past two years of AP history classes with substandard teachers, you learn how to sound smart while knowing nothing. Jamie Hintson and I have developed a few mantras to help with our lack of proper history instruction. NUTPOC = never underestimate the power of crap. MUS = make up ssshtuff... I think Socrates used this very well. He thought up a really complicated theory scenario thing that could be applied to religion, politics, psychology, whatever. It's like he got a patent for everything with a remote. It applies to a lot of stuff.I was listening to The Cave this morning (Mumford and Sons). "So come out of your cave walking on your hands, and see the world hanging upside down..." Cave theory shoutout. Well done Mumford. Well done.3
Bethany's Response
Cool reference to Inception. I've never actually seen it though. Well I don't think I have. I've heard of all the "make up crap" for AP essays and all that. You know give the illusion that you know what you're talking about even though you dont because you teacher never taught you anything and when you take the test, mysterious writing prompts pop up that you have no idea about so you just write down anything and everything so the Collegeboard people or whoever can read or send out your essays and read them and laugh and give you a score just for trying. Ok. I dont know if that made any sense i thing that was just a little rambling rant from an AP student. But either way, never underestimate the power of crap is a great mantra becuase you know A LOT of people make their living off it. Politicians are always trying to sell some crap to get them elected or whatever and they never get the chance to carry it out or never planned to in the first place. Pretty cool that you happened to listen to The Cave the morning before you wrote your response.
Book 2
This has been an interesting novel / story / poem thing. I think that it is extremely creative for Milton to have used Satan and the fallen angels to represent the corrupt government he was experiencing at the time. A little risky obviously. I doubt that any writer would take that chance now, although Milton did cleverly veil his writing. I feel like there is a song reference I should or could be making here, but I can't think of one. Something Avett Brothers or Mumford and Sons. As we were discussing book two in class, it struck me how similar the Republic parliment scene with the fallen angels is with many other political situations ( obviously the Republic and Cromwell issue of Milton's day). The first thought that popped in my head when reading and discussing this was Hitler's regime and Germany's situation in the 1900's, partly because we're studying it in US history right now. I suppose it is somewhat ironic, but you can definitely compare Hitler (the nazis, Germany) and Satan (the fallen angels). Early 1900's, Germany is full of it and wants to demonstrate their power and take some more control because they are German and they just think they are the coolest thing. Pre-fall, Satan and some of the angels become prideful and maybe think they are better than God and try to take more power. WWI, Germany declares war on everyone, everyone declares war on Germany, eventually that doesn't go over too well with the Germans. The angels rebel and get kicked out of heaven, yeah bad move. Inbetween state sucks all around. WWII Hitler and the Nazis have taken power and attempt to take over the world with the justification that Germans are the supreme creatures. Angels plan the fall of man. Germany does not win the war, the angels are punished. The end.Bethany
Interesting that you compare Hitler to Satan. I would've have thought about it at the time. Both are trying to have more power than they already had and it ultimately lead to their downfalls. They obviously felt a certain way about their action. Satan sometimes had thoughts that he did the wrong thing and Hitler ended up committing suicide. Also I think it's funny how they both lose. Germany not only loses their leader, they lose WWII, making it their second World War loss. The angels are punished with Hell. Forever. And Ever. I guess that's what happens when you try to fight God. I feel like both Hitler and the Nazis and Satan and the angels were fighting a battle they really wanted to win, believed they could win, but was impossible for them to win. When Satan and the angels rebelled the probably thought they were right for whatever reason because otherwise they would not have rebelled in the first place. But I wonder if it was worth it? Did they really want hell when they chose to rebel? Hitler wanted to prove that Germany was all big and bad sending Jews, gypsies, and homosexuals to concentration camps and killing millions of them and taking France and other countries. They would've been some what successful with taking most Europe if they didn't try to stir up the neutral United States. Bad idea and stupid alliance with Japan. But anyway, they lost. Good comparison.Paradise Lost Conclusion
Well, big spoiler alert: Eve ate the fruit. Oops. But I guess we all kinda saw that one coming. So the devil went down to paradise, to ruin mankind and whatnot. You would think that the new earth would have a better security system. And who knew that satan had the #transformationtuesday disguise trick. Not me. I do not even know if one of the X men has that super power. I think one of the bad guys does, she was a little blue alien assassin thing. Pretty cool. That would be a fun super power. And what kind of archangel can't tell the difference between the freaking devil, and a little baby angel cherub? There was a line from the Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downey Jr., "No girl wants to marry a doctor that can't tell if a man is dead or not!" I hope that Uriel got some kind of official reprimand from an authority figure. That little mix up probably initiated several new reforms about who gets let into the New Earth and the screening process for security guards. So blah blah blah, Satan hops the fence and climbs a tree. It just now occurred to me that Snow White could be some kind of parallel to the fall and salvation. She's all innocent in the forest with her friendly dwarfs, shes tempted by the evil witch or whatever, eats the apple, side note: what kind of idiot eats food from creepy strangers in the woods? She deserved to fall into a deep deep sleep or die or whatever happened. Anyways, eats the apple, falls asleep, random prince with no character traits except handsome and prince comes to save her. And why did the evil witch try to kill her anyway? She was jealous. So maybe the whole fall was based on a trick from the green eyed monster. Anyways Caleb, it's been real. Thanks for teaching and being cool and stuff. Contrary to popular belief, students do want to learn and be challenged and stuff. I've felt somewhat insulted this year by my teachers because I know what I'm capable of and I want people to expect me to be smart and do well and not just expect me to shuffle onto college in pursuit of my MRS. But you've been a really good teacher, so keep on trucking, do your thing, and whatever else. Congratulations.