Is Friendship Everlasting?

The first three Tablets of Gilgamesh have encouraged me to keep on reading with interest, even though at first I thought it was going to be very slow and boring. It starts very detailed describing everything several times, which made my reading easier. This is just the introduction of the book and it has been pretty active, something I didn't really expect to find.

This first part is mainly introducing the characters; the main character is Gilgamesh which is the King of Uruk, "Gilgamesh is the ruler, the strongest of all, the terror."(pg.9). Another important character is Enkidu, he was born in the wild and he is very strong as well, another one is Ninsun, she is the "All-knowing" mother of Gilgamesh. Shamhat is a harlot of Uruk. She has an important position at the beginnig, she has to bring Enkidu to Uruk for Gigamesh to meet, and challenge him. Before they arrived, Gilgamesh had a strange dream, that a meteorite had fallen, and that he couldn't rise it, his mother interpreted the dream as if the meteorite was a companion that would never abandon him. when Enkidu first meets with Gilgamesh, they confront themselves, but they end up hugging and kissing; this was the companion Ninsun was talking about.

They learned many things together and they made a proposal to kill Huwawa, a very dangerous creature everyone was scared of, "Huwawa's mouth is fire, his roar is the floodwater; he breathes and there is death."(pg.16) and also to cut the cedar. Gilgamesh was very excited because even if he died, he would still be remembered, "My fame will be secure to all my sons."(pg.17). They both go to Ninsun's palace to tell her about this, she is afraid of this, and offers the god fragrances, and other things.

When I finished reading these Tablets, I have some question: Will both of them be courageous enough to go to the forest and try killing the Huwawa? If they do, will they be able to get rid of him? Will there be fires or floods? What will happen with Enkindu's and Gilgamesh's friendship? Will Gilgamesh be able to survive in the forest?

Everything is Finished

The last chapter of Ishmael was a very good part of the book; you are able to notice the change in the student's personality, the way of thinking, and understanding things. You now have a wide perspective of what Ishmael wanted and that his mission had already been accomplished. The first impression you have when you start reading this chapter is that the student really wanted to rescue Ishmael, "…I had to rescue Ishmael from that goddamned carnival."(pg.257). He did almost the impossible and had some inconveniences that make his wish come true after some long time, but after being able to get some money to buy Ishmael.

He returns to the carnival, but he was disappointed at what he saw; the carnival was gone. He had been there so much time; he remembered exactly where Ishmael's cage was, so he went there. He was amazed at what he saw, everything Ishmael had was thrown and left behind, "…the blankets I'd bought for him had been left behind, had been dumped in a messy pile along with other things I recognized…" (pg.260). He stood there for a long time and had no idea of what was to come. A person was near and told him that Ishmael was dead, "It was the pneumonia that got him-your friend the ape."(pg.260) he was shocked! He got everything that had been left behind and wanted to take it with him, "I left the blankets, of course, but the rest all fit easily under one arm."(pg.261).

The student changed in a very positive manner, at the beginning of the book he was angry at the ad Ishmael had put, but now you can observe that he was more sensible to almost everything, especially the news that Ishmael was dead, "Someone else would have handled it differently, probably better, revealing a greater heart, a finer sensibility."(pg.261). When he was looking back at Ishmael's possessions, and went to frame the poster he had in his office, and he noticed it had another message on the other side, the poster said:"WITH MAN GONE WILL THER BE FOR GORILLA? The message on the other side reads: WITH GORILLA GONE WILL THERE BE HOPE FOR MAN?"(pg.262-263). When I read this, I couldn't believe what I was reading, at first I thought the way most people would, how could gorillas survive if humans didn't exist?, but after thinking about it, I got another perception, if gorillas such as Ishmael didn't exist, how would people be able to notice the change and impact humanity has caused?

Grammar Practice from Tuesday

Sentence Fragment Exercises—#1

The sentences below appeared in papers written by students. Act as their editor, marking a C if the sentences in the group are all complete and an F if any of the sentences in the group is a fragment. Could you tell these writers why the fragments are incomplete sentences?

__F__ 1. Then I attended Morris Junior High. A junior high that was a bad experience.

__F__ 2. The scene was filled with beauty. Such as the sun sending its brilliant rays to the earth and the leaves of various shades of red, yellow, and brown moving slowly in the wind.

__C__ 3. He talked for fifty minutes without taking his eyes off his notes. Like other teachers in that department, he did not encourage students' questions.

__F__ 4. Within each group, a wide range of features to choose from. It was difficult to distinguish between them.

___C_ 5. A few of the less serious fellows would go into a bar for a steak dinner and a few glasses of beer. After this meal, they were ready for anything.

__C__ 6. It can be really embarrassing to be so emotional. Especially when you are on your first date, you feel that you should be in control.

__F__ 7. The magazine has a reputation for a sophisticated, prestigious, and elite group of readers. Although that is a value judgment and in circumstances not a true premise.

___F_ 8. In the seventh grade every young boy goes out for football. To prove to himself and his parents that he is a man.

__F__ 9. She opened the door and let us into her home. Not realizing at the time that we would never enter that door in her home again.

__C_10. As Christmas grows near, I find myself looking back into my childhood days at fun-filled times of snowball fights. To think about this makes me happy.

__F__11. Making up his mind quickly. Jim ordered two dozen red roses for his wife. Hoping she would accept his apology.

__F__12. They were all having a good time. Until one of Joe's oldest and best friends had a little too much to drink.

__F__13. Although it only attained a speed of about twelve miles an hour. My old rowboat with its three-horsepower motor seemed like a high-speed job to me.

__C__14. With my brother standing by my side, I reached for the pot handle. Tilting the pot way too much caused the boiling water to spill.

__F__15. The small, one-story houses are all the same size and style. With no difference except the color.

__F__16. Being a friend of mine like he was when we first joined the soccer team. Together we learned a lot.

Sentence Fragments: Exercise 2

These paragraphs need proofreading for possible fragments.

1. How can a person find patriotism in a local night club? Well, it did not take me too long. About four weeks ago, in a little night club in Louisville, Kentucky, a couple of my friends, Rick and Lon, the duo who were providing the entertainment that night for the club, they played traditional country music.

2. For the past twenty years, the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan has been measuring the level of Americans' trust and confidence in their politicians and quasi-political trust and confidence in their political institutions and their leaders. "Political" being all levels of government, and "quasi-political" referring to churches, labor unions, large professional/business associations, educational institutions, and the like. The result is that a very sharp decline has taken place every year since 1964.

 3. For 200 years Americans believed in better jobs, better homes, a better life for one's children. This confidence no longer exists. Polls now indicate that fewer Americans who feel they are better off today than they were five years ago. A public-opinion analysis group has found that large numbers of Americans, at some times and in some places, see themselves as lower on the ladder, that
have worse living conditions and anticipation of further decline over the next five years.

 4. Well, in looking at the picture at the left you see an old lady. She has a very funny look on her face, like she's lonely and just wants to be left alone. She also looks as if she has seen a lot and experienced lots of things.

5. A president is an appointed leader, who is a decision maker in the executive branch of our government. This doesn't necessarily mean that the person the people elect is capable. This is assumed through his past record as a politician, over the years' buildup of experience and handling situations.

  Sentence Fragments: Exercise 3

The following paragraph has no capital letters or periods to mark the beginnings and ends of sentences. Add capitals, periods, commas, and/or other punctuation that may be needed to make the word groups into complete sentences. Your goal is to be sure that there are no fragments.

 
 

My brother was always my best friend when I was a child, especially as we two were almost alone in the world. We lived with our old grandmother in a little house, almost a shack, in the country.
Whenever I think of him now, I see a solemn, responsible boy, a boy too old for his years, who looked out for me no matter what.
Once there was a bully, John Anson who looked enormous to me, though he was probably an average twelve-year-old. John had it in for me because he liked Littice Grant who liked me. He decided to beat me up right before her eyes, I was lucky my brother came by. He didn't interfere any, he just stood there,
and somehow though his presence gave me confidence. I licked the stuffing out of John Anson. If my brother hadn't been there, I don't think I could have done it.

Is This the End?

Chapter 12 of Ishmael is a very unique chapter as it shows how the student appreciates Ishmael, and it demonstrates as well that Ishmael liked his student more as a friend. After talking about the curriculum they had followed and finished answering some questions that had been posted since the start of the lessons, Ishmael had accomplished everything he had to teach his student. The only thing Ishmael expected from his student was for him to keep teaching all the knowledge he had from Ishmael.

In the first part of the chapter it shows the way the student cares for Ishmael, he wants to buy him to take him back to the city, for Ishmael to believe he's not a captive in a carnival, just as he was before Mr. Sokolow bought him. after having a very small probability of being able to buy him, he went back to the cage to finish with the lesson they had left with, about the Leavers and Takers, and their differences and why they were both very important in the steps of creation. A very important thing to point out is that creatures that live in the hands of gods evolve, and "Man became man by living in the hands of god."(pg. 237). A question that pervaded through the entire story was: why did man evolve and in this chapter the answer to this question is given, "You mean he was still part of the general community of life."(pg. 238) this doesn't clearly state the answer, but it means that we have evolved because we were part of the general community and we lived in the hands of gods, and that is also part of the answer to creation. "According to the Taker story, creation came to an end with man."(pg. 238) and this other quotation demonstrates the other part of the answer to creation.

At the end of the chapter, the student starting pointing out the main points he had learned and concluded with one idea: "…contrary to the impression one receives from prison movies, the prison population is not at all an undifferentiated mass."(pg. 251), this explains that prisoners can have almost anything they please to have. Then he makes this comparison: "The world of the Takers is one vast prison, and except for a handful of Leavers scattered across the world, the entire human race is now inside that prison."(pg. 251). With this comparison Quinn is trying to tell us that all Takers are able to get almost anything they want, but as in prisons, there are still social differences that will make a small impact to the rest of the prisoners. After he was done talking about this conclusion, Ishmael told him that he had already passed him all his knowledge and with this he would have to keep teaching others to be able to make a difference in the world.

At the end I started questioning with these questions: Why is Ishmael thinking about his future? How would the relationship between Ishmael and the student be after this last lesson? Will they see each other again? I will have to finish reading the book to be able to clarify my doubts.

Punctuation: Michelle Obama’s Speech

OBAMA: As you might imagine, for Barack, running for president is nothing compared to that first game of basketball with my brother Craig.
I can't tell you how much it means to have Craig and my mom here tonight. Like Craig, I can feel my dad looking down on us, just as I've felt his presence in every grace-filled moment of my life.

At six-foot-six, I've often felt like Craig was looking down on me too - literally. But the truth is, both when we were kids and today, he wasn't looking down on me — he was watching over me.

And he's been there for me every step of the way since that clear February day 19 months ago when — with little more than our faith in each other, and a hunger for change — we joined my husband, Barack Obama on the improbable journey that's brought us to this moment.

But each of us also comes here tonight by way of our own improbable journey.

I come here tonight as a sister, blessed with a brother who is my mentor, my protector, and my lifelong friend.

I come here as a wife who loves my husband and believes he will be an extraordinary president.

I come here as a Mom ,whose girls are the heart of my heart and the center of my world — they're the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning, and the last thing I think about when I go to bed at night. Their future — and all our children's future — is my stake in this election.
And I come here as a daughter — raised on the south side of Chicago, by a father who was a blue collar city worker, and a mother who stayed at home with my brother and me. My mother's love has always been a sustaining force for our family, and one of my greatest joys is seeing her integrity, her compassion, and her intelligence reflected in my own daughters.

My dad was our rock. Although he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in his early thirties, he was our provider, our champion, our hero. As he got sicker, it got harder for him to walk it took him longer to get dressed in the morning, but if he was in pain, he never let on he never stopped smiling and laughing — even while struggling to button his shirt, even while using two canes to get himself across the room to give my mom a kiss, he just woke up a little earlier and worked a little harder.

He and my mom poured everything they had into me and Craig, it was the greatest gift a child can receive, never doubting for a single minute that you're loved, and cherished and have a place in this world. And thanks to their faith and hard work we both were able to go on to college, so I know firsthand from their lives — and mine — that the American Dream endures.

And you know, what struck me when I first met Barack was that even though he had this funny name, even though he'd grown up all the way across the continent in Hawaii, his family was so much like mine. He was raised by grandparents who were working class folks just like my parents, and by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills just like we did. Like my family, they scrimped and saved so that he could have opportunities they never had themselves. And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do, that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them.

And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values, and pass them on to the next generation. Because we want our children - and all children in this nation - to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.

And as our friendship grew, and I learned more about Barack, he introduced me to the work he'd done when he first moved to Chicago after college. Instead of heading to Wall Street, Barack had gone to work in neighborhoods devastated when steel plants shut down, and jobs dried up. And he'd been invited back to speak to people from those neighborhoods about how to rebuild their community.

The people gathered together that day were ordinary folks doing the best they could to build a good life. They were parents living paycheck to paycheck; grandparents trying to get by on a fixed income; men frustrated that they couldn't support their families after their jobs disappeared. Those folks weren't asking for a handout or a shortcut. They were ready to work - they wanted to contribute. They believed - like you and I believe - that America should be a place where you can make it if you try.

Barack stood up that day, and spoke words that have stayed with me ever since. He talked about "The world as it is" and "The world as it should be." And he said that all too often, we accept the distance between the two, and settle for the world as it is - even when it doesn't reflect our values and aspirations. But he reminded us that we know what our world should look like. We know what fairness, and justice, and opportunity look like. And he urged us to believe in ourselves - to find the strength within ourselves to strive for the world as it should be. And isn't that the great American story?

It's the story of men and women gathered in churches and union halls, in town squares and high school gyms - people who stood up and marched and risked everything they had - refusing to settle, determined to mold our future into the shape of our ideals.

It is because of their will and determination that this week, we celebrate two anniversaries: the 88th anniversary of women winning the right to vote, and the 45th anniversary of that hot summer day when Dr. King lifted our sights and our hearts with his dream for our nation.

 

Right or Wrong?

In Chapter 11 of Ishmael, there are two position taken, the Leavers and the Takers, Ishmael and his student want to create a discussion about the Takers (the student) trying to convince the Leavers (Ishmael) to change from being hunter-gatherers to being agriculturalists. This all started because the student wanted to know the Leaver's story; even though they were already extinct, he wanted to be able to make a clear difference in thoughts and ways of surviving. At first, Ishmael was very tired and didn't really agree with the idea of looking at the other part of the story: the Leavers.

After a while, they both agreed to talk about the Leaver's story and that was when the discussion started. The Taker was trying to convince the Leaver that being a hunter-gatherer was of no use, that it was easier and better if they became agriculturalists as the Takers were. The Leaver wasn't convinced at all, what was wrong about hunting? They had lived all their lives in that way and never had any problems. They did not mind passing away because of a drought or not having food, "If the drought is very bad, then we too dwindle" (pg.225). They lived at the mercy of the gods, they had no control over themselves the gods had control over them as they did with any other animal, "What the gods provide is enough for your life as animals-I grant you that. But for your life as humans, you must provide."(pg.226). This conversation went on for a long time, but the Leaver didn't really understand, but after, the Taker explained that if they produced food they would be able to store food for longer periods of time, if this occurred they wouldn't starve to death, "The gods plant only what you need . You will plant more than you need."(pg.227). If this happens the gods wouldn't have control over you and your actions, you would now be responsible for your own selves, "When you have more food then you need, then the gods have no power over you!" (pg.227).

Overall, the point Ishmael was trying to make with this conversation was to make his student be part of the prerevolutionary story he wanted to know of. This lesson, I thought was more active, they both participated which made it be easier to understand and it was more fun than the others. It was a great story to point out at the ending of the book, from this you can have a better image of what the Takers and Leavers really were. "The Takers are those who know good and evil, and the Leavers are…? The Leavers are those who live in the hands of the gods."(pg.229).

Is There a Right Way to Live?

Chapter ten of Ishmael is a very critical point in the book. It starts in a particular way telling about the student's personal life, something he had never talked about before. When the student starts focusing more on his life rather than in Ishmael's lessons, he starts noticing he actually wants to keep learning from him, but when he arrives at his office, Ishmael had been evicted, "Got evicted, I guess. Wasn't paying her rent."(pg. 189). The student's problem began at this point, the only thing he really wanted was to learn where Ishmael was, he looked for him everywhere he could imagine, he even went looking for Rachel Sokolow who had died three months ago and he had no idea. After several tries of finding Ishmael, he decided to investigate himself for any carnivals, zoos, menageries that had been in town in the past weeks, and finally had one carnival in his eyes.

He arrived at the carnival, and went in search of "Gargantua, the world's most famous gorilla"(pg. 194), he was at the far corner in a cage on his own. He didn't say anything, but then they started speaking and Ishmael got a little annoyed, and told him to leave him alone. At night when the student came back again and they continued with the lesson of culture, they started talking that culture was the gathering of people's inventions that have been passed from generation to generation. As the student first told Ishmael about the definition of culture "I'd say it's the sum total of everything that makes people a people."(pg198).

The book states that Leavers have always had culture, they have a very well image of their past, but Takers instead don't have their culture as marked, they just have a past since 1963 according to the book. "…among the Leavers you always have the sense of a people with a past extending back to the dawn of time. Among the Takers you have a sense of people with a past extending back to 1963."(pg. 202). As well, Takers have acknowledged the culture of their ancestors, but they still will not live the way they lived. It also talks about that people actually tried saving what was useful to them, mainly if it had to do with production, "Anything related to production was definitely saved. And that's how things came to be this way."(pg. 203).

They were almost finishing their lesson, but before they had to make one point clear, the Leavers had their own way of living that they had formed since the beginning of humanity and they had tested many times before. Instead, the Takers just wanted to find one set of laws that would lead them to a better and easier way of life. They have their set of laws that will make their life easier, but they haven't tested it and they don't have proof that the set of laws they are using to live by will actually work. I personally think that living by a set of laws is outrageous, but unfortunately most of the people live by them.

 

 

 

    

Ishmael: My Beliefs

Since I started Reading Ishmael, I had was astonished at everything Ishmael was trying to teach the student. It was a unique way of looking at humanity in history, a way I would have never thought of about humanity. It is incredible that from a book you are able to acquire so many facts about humanity, the evolution, creation, and mainly the way we are captives of our own civilization.

As I read this book, I started noticing things I had never realized. Especially when Ishmael started talking about the Takers and the Leavers, at first, I didn't understand what that really meant, but as I read further I discovered that if humans had kept living as Leavers, the world had probably been inhabited by another species other than us. Thanks to the Takers ideas, we didn't continue with evolution, we changed from being nomads to sedentary people that wanted to live an easier life. With all this, I realized that we are captives of our society since the agricultural revolution. People were living the way we wanted and the way the knew who to survive, but since that moment they could just live the way Takers wanted to live they had discovered the easiest way of living with very few problems.

Ishmael just wanted his student to be conscious of the problems humanity had come across and how things came to be this way. This question of how things came to be this way is answered through all of Ishmael's teachings of ancient history and the way the world would have been if the agricultural revolution hadn't taken place.

It was an exciting book people should read to be aware that humans are captives of their own civilization. The way Ishmael explains this is incredible, if you think of it, most humans would not realize this on their own. With a gorilla, it is easier to accept what humans have been up to in the past, and the way it will affect us.

Answer to Blog Questions

A. The difference between a blog and a book is that books have very certain information that can't be changed or modified according to other people's opinions. Blogs are quite different, you post your opinion on certain topics and expect comments that might help you improve your blog. On the blogs you can also support your position withe links that can take you to other resources quickly, this way many people find your blog more reliable.

B. Blogs have changed recently because now days more people have blogs in which they can write freely and people have found ways of linking more pages with useful information for bloggers. Blogs can have videos, photos, and many more interactive activities that people can post and make their blog more personal.

C. You might read a blog to hear about other people's opinion and have another idea of someone else that has a different opinion than you do.

D. Yes, there's reason to doubt the objectivity of a blog because most blogs are written according to personal opinions that could be very different than what might be really happening or at least supposed to happen.

E. If I kept my own blog, the title would be The Extraordinary Journal. At least at this point I would name it this way before I am sure what my blog would be about.