blog progress

Eli Pardue
12/4/07
AP Lang Comp
LaMags

blog progress

I searched the internet today for websites that advocated the legalization of marijuana. I found very, very many of them. I was rather disappointed, however. One of the sites as PureTHC.com, which was more of a stoner forum than anything else. Most of these sites were of the same stuff that PureTHC was. They were forum based sites, with topics about how much they liked to get high, and the different types of marijuana they grew. Even though there was no factual information, I have gotten a very good insight as the stereotypical group that advocated the complete legalization of marijuana. It is sad that this is what people think about when they think about the legalization of marijuana.

Eli Pardue
12/03/07
AP Lang Comp
LaMags

blog progress

Today I read an article about the use of medical marijuana in the northwest. IT is still very handily advocated by the general public. The government continues to advocate it as well. However, there are some very concentrated areas in the northwest, usually more conservative small, rural towns, that are very active against its use. I find that the arguments that the opposers of medical marijuana are the same and over and over. I read reasons saying that it is unethical to intoxicate the body with any foreign substance. This confused me because the protesters were not acting against other medicines that have many of the same side affects that marijuana has. Most of the reasons were based on ethical and moral beliefs, and seemed very closed minded.

individual reseach blog thing 1

Eli Pardue

11/28/07
AP Lang Comp
LaMags

Individual Research Idea

My primary idea for my individual research came from my health class with Mr. Thornburg. He assigned us to have a position on the legalization of marijuana, and to think about the pros and cons of our decision.
Being from the West Coast, the central hub of the use of marijuana as a medicine, I have a slight bias to the subject not only for the fact that I have known people who have greatly benefited from the use of marijuana ass both an anti-depressant and a pain killer. My mother worked for many years at a clinic where she treated people with addiction problems. Often as side affects of withdrawal, these people would experience mental problems, and when used in moderation, it can help immensely. I have seen marijuana used in many different cases with great success.
I advocate marijuana not because of any personal feelings regarding the experience. In fact, I have never been involved with the use of recreational marijuana. I advocate it because I truly believe that it can be used as an extremely affective medication, and that if the scientific use of marijuana was approved, cellular research can develop different strains that are more affective. In addition, they can experiment to create more generally accepted forms of medications, such as injections and pills.

Socialization process

Eli Pardue
10/31/07
AP Lang Comp
LaMags

The socialization process is when people absorb the beleifs of their culture and surroundings, most often times from those who are closest to them, such as parents and other family members.

Personally, I do beleive that a persons central beleifs and values come from the environment that they weere born into. For example, say you have an extremely sterotypical white supremicist family. This family has two children, the second of which is given to an adoption agency and is taken in by a sterotypical northern liberal family that believes in the equality of man (keep in mind that both children are still infants). The infant in the biological family will most likely grow up with the beleif that all men are not created equl, and will most likely have serious predjudice against those different to him. The adopted child will probably have liberl views because that is what his parents will have taught him. This example shows that even though the two hcildren come from the same biological parents, they can have drastically differnet views on predjudice based on how they were raised.

frederick douglass

Eli Pardue
11/1/07
AP Lang Comp
LaMags

Frederick Douglass states that Independence Day to a slave is nothing more than a day, becuase hte slaves were not freed on July 4th. Freedom of the country did not matter to the claves as much as it did to the citizensebcause their treatment did not differ. They ahd no change in lifestyle because the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution did not state anything about the lawfulness or rightioussness of slavery.

Douglass appeals to pathos because becasue of the obvious passion that he shows in his speech. Also, the language he uses makes makes us all question the point of the question he is responding to. He also appeals to logic by simplky explaining the obvious to the audience. For Ethos, he was a slve, and can therefor speak for all slaves because he knows what it wwas like to be one and knows the conditions in which a typical slave lives.

Image of Jefferson

Eli Pardue
10/29/07
AP Lang Lit
LaMags

Melting Pot Entry One

The image of Thomas Jefferson I get from my American history textbook is one that portrays him as a founding father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and President of the United States. On a deeper level, it talks about him as a Virginian plantation runner and slave owner. Thomas Jefferson certainly had prejudice against African-Americans. Based on the text, he thought that they were all-in-all less intelligent than whites. According to his writing, they are not as insightful or comprehensive as whites, and give only basic narrations rather than thoughtful insights. The only thing that he rated African Americans as being more proficient in was basic musical skills, but doubted that they had comprehension for more intensive melodies and harmonies. He was absolutely one of the more prejudiced Fathers, with good reason, coming from a tobacco plantation.
The photograph of his family has a group of whites to the right of his grave, and the the left, an African American family. This immediately gives the idea that Jefferson may have been one of the more Open minded Fathers, one who truly believed in the equality for all Americans that he wrote of. However, based on the historical context of his view on slaves, this assumption would not be valid. However, it is true that Jefferson had an affair with one of his slaves, and had a child with her. The descendants of this child are still alive today, and I believe that it is those descendants who stand to the left of the grave. It is rather fitting, in a sad way, given his stance on African Americans, that these descendants stand to the left rather than the position of power, to the right.

death of a salesman

Eli Pardue
10/13/07
AP Lang Comp
LaMags

Death of a Salesman-Individual Opportunity

To Willy Loman, individual opportunity is equal to all people, and that people just need to be well liked. He thinks that regardless of the grades you got in school, or the social background you come from, to get ahead of the game, you have to be well liked. For example, f one is well liked, then they are more likely to receive the promotion out of the mailroom and into the sales floor. With hard work, one can go from the sales floor to a management position, and then on and on. All its takes is good soial skills and hard work
Willy always bragged about how he could make six or seven calls a day in Boston and make a sale with each one. This was because he was a well-liked salesman. He takes pride in his sons because they are well liked. He is disappointed in Biff because Biff does not use the fact that he was well liked in school to his advantage. He goes out west as a cattle herder, which disappoints Willy because Willy thought that he could be a successful anything with his personality. Happy, on the other hand, has done just what Willy wanted Biff to do, but feels empty inside because he feels he has nothing in his career which fulfills him.