Weinman

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Having assignment like this, require me to look back on the year and I think it has been really awesome. When I look back on my old assignments I realize how much I have grown this year as a writer. I think that looking over any work over a long period of time is very important. I am most proud of the work reread and edited more because they end up being a lot better then the pieces that I don't look over. My greatest weakness in writing is not taking the time to look over and edit. I realize now the assignments I was more exited about I edited more therefore, making it a better piece of writing. I found it hardest to look over and edit more personal pieces, like the memoir. I found myself not being interested in writing about myself. My best piece of writing I think was the Macbeth Quote analysis and the Macbeth creative piece. Not only was it a great book, and something fun to write about, I like how I got to apply my own specialties and hobbies to the creative piece. I also enjoy analyzing text and thinking about a character in the book, like the Macbeth quote analysis. Overall, I have improved so much over this year and hope my portfolio shows that.======

Quarter One Benchmark:
For this Benchmark were assigned to an essay on the book "//The Odyssey//". I chose to write about Telemachus, one of the main characters. I would like to add that this piece was absolutely horrible and showed how much I have grown this year. After editing it ended up being a lot better. Hope you enjoy!

Danny Weinman Bench Mark rough draft October 25 2009

Through the whole book Telemachus is questioned on whether he is man enough to deal with his father leaving and being able to look after his mom. He questions himself of whether he’s old enough and shows that he is not mature enough when he cries. Telemachus is 20 years old so he should be able to act like a grownup. Telemachus is on a strenuous journey to find his father; he is dealing with the lines between a child and a grown up.

People start to question whether he is mature enough with what he is going through. “Filled with anger, down he dashed the speakers scepter bursting into tears. Pity seized the assembly,” (page 95 lines 86 to 88). Telemachus probably should not have let this part of himself show because it shows his weakness and when the suitors and others see this they see that he is not a powerful person. If Telemachus wants to be a leader then he has to seem strong and he shouldn’t pity himself because he’s only 20. If he doesn’t think that he’s ready to lead a kingdom, which is completely understandable, he should let one of the suitors take over. There needs to be a leader and if Telemachus isn’t ready then he should just someone else take his position.

As much as Telemachus seems like he’s not ready to be in the position that he’s in there are some things that show that he can do it. King Nestor a big fan of Odysseus says to Telemachus: “Your way of words- its just like his-I swear no youngster could ever speak like you,” (page 111 line 139 to 140). This shows that Telemachus might be ready for all of this because he acts like his father who was a great leader. Speaking like a good leader is a good quality to have.

Telemachus also has a lot of help throughout his journey. Athena, the Great Goddess, helps him a lot. She states, “Dear boy never fear you’ll be a coward or defenseless not if at your young age the gods will guard you so.” Telemachus has a Goddess helping him along the way. Athena makes his life easer and makes him into a leader. Athena helps him to go on his journey and shows him that he’s strong.

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Overall, Telemachus has gone through a long journey that should prepare him to become powerful enough to rule a kingdom. Along the way he has found support and guidance from important people, which he has learned from. This guidance should make him into a powerful leader and it does. =====

Quarter Two Benchmark:
In quarter two we read a book called the "//Freedom Writers Diary//". The book consisted of memoirs from different high school students who were inspired by there english teacher to do good. For our Benchmark we were assigned to make our on memoirs and record it, this is what I did: media type="file" key="english jawnskii.m4a" width="300" height="50"

Quarter Three Benchmark:
In the third quarter we read the play //"Kindred".// We were assigned to make a quote analysis paper and focus on a certain character in the book. For my paper I chose Lady Macbeth.  Kindred essay- Lady Macbeth Danny Weinman

“I never realized how easily people could be trained to accept slavery,” said Dana (page 101). Because Dana is from a different time, she doesn’t realize everything about slavery until she experiences it. “Slavery is a long slow process of dulling,” (Page 183). The physical badness of slavery is obvious but there are a lot of ways that it is emotionally and mentally painful to African Americans. The book //__Kindred__// clearly shows the dulling of the African American race during slavery and what a terrible, dehumanizing tragedy slavery and racism is. One of the ways that the slaves were stripped of there identity was by calling them nigger. They were all referred to as a nigger. When Dana first experienced this word being used as a name for her, she was surprised and livid. “Where Elisha breathed into the dead mans mouth, and the boy came back to life. Mama said she tried to stop you when she saw you doing that to me because you are just some nigger that she had never seen before,” (page 24). Her reaction was, “that was a hell of thing for her to say right after she saw me save her sons life!”(page 24) But after talking with Rufus she soon realizes how normal it is when someone refers to a black person as nigger. When you constantly call someone the same degrading name it strips them of their identity. She is no longer Dana or a woman, she is just nigger. She doesn’t really realize the terribleness of this word until its used towards her. When society splits races, obviously it creates problems. Culture is at a loss because of racism. //Kindred// clearly shows that racism is unnatural, because no matter what skin color, where all the same animal. “You ought to be ashamed of your self, whining and crying after some poor white trash of a man, black as you are. You always try to act so white. White nigger, turning against your own people!”(page 165). Alice says this to Dana after she defended a white man (Rufus) who had done so many atrocious acts to African American slaves. You can’t like a black person if your white and, you can’t like a white person if you’re black. Within //Kindred// and that time period the characters experience that you would be shunned if you did anything like that. This exhibits that separation of people due to their skin color, is confusing for both races and is a reason why segregation is illogical. “I was beginning to realize that he loved the woman - to her misfortune. There was no shame in raping a black woman, but there could be shame in loving one.” (page 124) Rufus is not allowed to like someone because they are black. In addition, he feels that because Alice is black, it is ok to rape her. During the time period that //__Kindred__// is set, African Americans were not suppose to know how to read or write. Dana is from a different time period and she does know how to read. She starts reading and teaching Nigel to read every night. When Tom finds out Dana is reading to Nigel Tom says “didn’t I tell you I didn’t want you reading!” (page 106). This is another example of how the slaves were dehumanized during this time. When you take away reading and writing and education, it makes people not have a voice. Dana teaching the children to read lead her to a beating. Once Tom Weylin said his son “you ought to be ashamed of yourself! A nigger can read better than you!” (page 102) He acted like a dog was reading better than him. She is a grown woman. No different from any other grown woman. She should be able to read and write just like any white person. The book //__Kindred__// clearly shows the dulling of the African American race during slavery and what a terrible, dehumanizing tragedy slavery and racism is. The effects of slavery last for longer than it happens. It affects how people are today even so many years after. If a whole group of people doesn’t get education how will their children will get education? If a whole group of people gets treated like dogs how will their children will be treated? So many more productive things could have happened if slavery didn’t happen. There would be so many more people who got to explore education and art in our history, and great things and great people would have come out of that. We have come far though, every one has fair rights now that shows that how far we have gotten. That doesn’t mean that the wounds of the African American people gone.

Macbeth Creative Project:
For this project we were assigned to make a creative project based on the written part we did above. For my creative project I chose to do a photo essay. (Make slide show full screen also use safari not firefox)

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=Journal Entries:= Here are my four favorite journal entries from the year:

My Name
My full name is long and weird. My first name is short and normal. My name is Daniel Lee Quigley Weinman. I like my name, because it sort of has lots of different cultures inside of it. I am named after my grandfather, who died right before I was born. My first middle name is my great grand mothers name. My second middle name is my mother Pats last name and its Italian. My last name is my mother Sharon's last name and its jewish. My name sort of has a story to it, and I really like that. When ever people ask me why do you have two middle names, it has a story to go along with it. I am a person that has a big family base and my name has roots from not only my parents last names, but also my grandfather and my great grandmother. I love my name, and I would never change it... because its me. Journal topic:

how do others influence your choice to stand up?
I always stand up for what I believe in. If something bad is happening or something says something I don’t like, I make a big deal out of it and make sure my voice is heard. I feel like because I stand up for what I believe in, I have been getting very good at making a articulate and powerful reason why I believe in that particular thing. Generally if I feel like someone is doing a wrong on purpose I know for a fact that the reason I believe the things I believe is because of my parents. I don’t know if my parents were different people if I would believe what I believe. But I like what my parents believe so thats that. = =

In this first quarter of 9th grade English we read __The Odyssey.__ We learned how to reflect on the things we are reading. We also watched the movie __Wale Rider__, a movie that is very similar to __The Odyssey.__ In both stories there is a young child (Paikea in the __Whale Rider__, and Telemachus in __The Odyssey)__ born into a family of power and they are both struggling to lead the place that they were born in. They both struggle in whether or not they ready to do this or if they are the right person for it. In the __Whale Rider__ Paikea is a little girl that was born into a family that wants their child to be a leader. Unfortunately the leader is supposed to be a male. When she was born her brother who was her twin, died when he came out. Her grand father, Koro, wanted a boy from his first son. Growing up Paikea feels as if her grandfather does not want her. Because she is not a boy the grand father needs to find another boy to lead their tribe. It makes Koro very sad and angry that there is no male in his family to lead them. Paikea tries to prove to him that she is the one to be the leader, but Koro refuses to let a girl be the next leader. It’s hard for Paikea to struggle with the question of whether she is the one to be the leader and she tries very hard to become the leader, despite her gender. This is very similar to the odyssey, and Telemachus. Telemachus is born also into a family that is the leaders of a kingdom. His father is not there so he has to prove to every one that he is the one to be the leader. Another connection is that both of them did not have the support of there parents being there. Its not like their parents didn’t support them in what they were doing, it’s just that they weren’t there. Telemachus' dad was lost on his way home from a war and his mom was dealing with suitor trying to take over the kingdom. Paikea's father left the tribe and was there rarely and her mom dies when she gave birth to her. Both are questioned with “ who I am?” and “am I strong enough to handle this?” Its good to make connection in different stories to compare them on our own life and reflected on it to understand it more. It helps us under stand English better and be another all-better person understands things and reads things in a better.

Why do we write?
I think I have good ideas, and thats why I write. When I write my Ideas down it gives other people a chance to see my ideas. It also gives me a chance to think about and articulate my ideas so that they are presented in the most powerful way possible. I also think writing is a great way of spreading information and stories. Its hard for someone to put there ideas by making a movie, or anything like that. Thats why writing is so important. My favorite type of writing is fictional writing. It shows someone's thoughts and imaginations, and that is something that no other form of communication can do.