On American Imperialism

On American Imperialism
By Adora Svitak

Recently, I’ve been thinking about colonizing several small Pacific islands. They should preferably come with cheap labor, hot sunny beaches, and flourishing fruit crops. If small Pacific islands are out of supply, I might think about grabbing some territory from Mexico. According to history, it shouldn’t be too hard—after all, the United States did it.

The U.S.’s only problem with these formerly Mexican territories is illegal immigration. Personally, I wouldn’t want to cross over from Mexico. Firstly, there’s the desert, then there’s a giant fence (although that’s not the hardest part), and border patrol agents. But, of course, people do all kinds of crazy things for a better life. What strikes me as odd is that New Mexico, California, Arizona, and Texas all used to be parts of Mexico. So what’s our big problem with “illegal” immigrants just occupying land that we took from them anyway?

The United States is all about freedom, liberty, etc. This seems reasonable. However, it seems like we’ve done a pretty bad job of showing our sentiments to the rest of the free world.

For example, we basically stole Texas from Mexico in the Mexican-American War. The United States revolted against Britain because we thought they had unfair control of our land. It seems a little hypocritical to me that we then went and stole someone else’s territory.

But it gets worse (or better, depending on how you look at it). After the Spanish-American War, we managed to colonize the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam. I have to ask: isn’t this starting to look a little too British?

I guess that we just really liked taking over small defenseless islands or something, because in 1893 resident American businessmen overthrew the monarchy of the Kingdom of Hawaii and annexed Hawaii to the U.S.
Oh, not only do we like acting the colonizer, we like meddling in other countries’ affairs too. Iran was a country rich and wealthy—with oil, that is. Who could resist? So the American oil companies moved in and started drilling oil. Then the Prime Minister, who had the good sense to think that Iranian oil should go to the Iranian people, nationalized the oil reserves. What do we do when a legitimate government officer does something we don’t agree with? Depose him or her, of course. The prime minister was arrested; we gave the ruthless Shah more power, and his secret police went around killing anyone who disagreed with him. Sounds like the American idea of freedom and liberty, right?

Another example of American meddling comes from the Vietnam War. We were so worried about Communism spreading and the “domino effect” that we invaded Vietnam needlessly. Probably the only good thing that came out of that war was the end of the military draft.

Maybe instead of stealing land from other people, we should try to improve what we already have. The United States could use some improving.

Three Poems

Three Poems
Svitak, Adora

Sharpshooter's spectacles
Proud brass buttons
Shortages and heavy-caliber rifles.

Gray, gray linen shirt
And a Springfield Rifle tall;
Decorative buck tails are trifles.

Light cavalry saber that glints in the sun.
Who knows what it could have done.

It's funny but kids like the big guns best.
They play on the wood axle shields
And turn the iron-banded whells.

Pow! Pow! go the guns
And the ironclads last;
A voltigeur's fight, and the Civil War's past.

-----

I believe that that poem needs some explanation. If you're wondering about all the weird Civil War specific weaponry I included in it, it was because the class activity was to use specific language from reference books to write a poem. My book was about the Civil War.

-----

In the depths of Rajasthan
In the shadows of Ranthambore
On the turf of the Gobblededook,
A raven croaked and sped off to the shore.

My mother told me to stay away
From the Gobblededook and his ire
But that had always been my dream--
And such dreams never tire.

At the door of the Gobblededook
A door an evil black like coal,
I trembled and I knocked and then--
The Gobblededook ate me whole!

-----

If you're wondering about the "Rathambore" and "Rajasthan", Rajasthan is a state of India and Rathambore is a tiger preserve in Rajasthan that I read about in Time magazine. We were supposed to choose words that we liked from an article that we liked and use them in a poem.

-----

To be eleven, oh so grand,
And high-and-mighty, vorpal;
To lord it over wee bugflies
And have no lack of torpor;

Stare at grass and daffodils
And bees that rumble-bumble;
The snakes that crawl, and stove the kettle
For squat birches that do sing

Shall welcome thou, and didst
Eleven is too, certainly
of certainty,
Peas Porridge Hot will solve it all,
Now listen to your mother's call.

-----

This was actually the first poem that I wrote of these three. In this class activity, we listened to the poem "Jabberwocky" and came up with words that we liked the sound of. Some of my words, as you may have guessed, were "Peas Porridge Hot", bugflies, and kettle. (Bugflies, by the way, is not a real word).

Katie's writing inspired by a picture

Bauml, Katie

Writing inspired by a picture

It was a warm, sunny evening in Okinawa, Japan. The sun was high in the sky. In the nice reddish glow you could make out a tall red and pink temple. Inside the temple you could hear many people talking and eating cucumber sushi and Ori. Lower to the ground was a white house with red trim and a purple roof. It was a bath house, an addition to the temple. All around the temple were short, round Japanese maples. During the day time they would have been the color of blood but at this time of the evening some were light pink with a trim of blinding white and others were deep purple with a light pink trim. Behind the bath house you could see a mountain which looked like a very obese purple pencil with white lead. The sky was a multi-color rainbow. At the horizon it was yellow, almost white, but only a few feet higher the sky turned into a light pink which looked like the leaves on cherry trees in spring. Then farther up the sky was a sea of bright red which looked as though time had stopped and if time had not been stopped the sky would have engulfed the sun. The red blended with the pink, so some was pink, some was red, and in between there was a fuchsia color.

9 Alternate Hooks to Start Snow White

1. Blood bloomed in the snow.
2. Snow white was as pretty and empty as the glass box that would one day be her home.
3. Where does beauty end and ugliness begin?
4. Who was the fairest of them all? You and I know the answer, but hind site is 20/20. In the queen's day, when Snowwhite was just a child, the question was the beginning of a favorite debate.
5. Arbarizan was the kind of land where time seemed to move slowly or not at all.
6. The crack of icy branches made Snowwhite's heart leap. Her sweat smelled like fear as she stood frozen in the winter woods.
7. Sallow, morose, and astonishingly bitter, Snowwhite was an unattractive child.
8. Shakespeare said that all the world's a stage. The stepmother agreed.
9. Snowwhite could not distinguish between her footsteps on the frozen ground and the beating of her own heart.

Point of View of a Teacher in Rome

Point of View of a Teacher in Rome
Svitak, Adora

I disliked the children who slumped in their chairs and paid as much attention to me as a dead man would to flies. They showed no interest in learning and I wished that I could smack them on the head with their own impertinence. But no; their parents were rich, and I would be reprimanded severely and never allowed inside again.

A child's lack of interest made me bored as well. At least I taught them outside in their gardens by the peristyle, where I could hear the sounds of Rome, hear our city speak. One particular child, Augustus, was quite a bother. He acted as though he were both blind and deaf, for he did not even try to observe the things going around him. I was more than happy to take a break to smell the colorful flowers in the garden and to converse with a lady fishmonger, Octavia, who I knew well. Octavia had come into the courtyard looking for some dropped possessions; Octavia was always losing things. I helped her to look for them. I knelt down on my knees and poked around in the rose and laurel bushes, trying to talk to Octavia as I looked. Perhaps fishmongers were among the ones "least worthy of approval" but they received fairer pay than I and I was dying for intelligent conversation.

Unfortunately Octavia was lethargic that day. She had pursed lips and spoke with as few words as seemed possible. I asked her a question; she said "yes" or "no" or "I don't know." I finally found Octavia’s “possessions”—a dirty toga, a few coins, and a pair of spare sandals—inside a bag close to the stone walls that surrounded the courtyard. I had always been a little wary of the walls; the stones were never properly chinked, made in a hurry for Augustus’s family. I threw the bag to Octavia, who caught it promptly.

“What’s that noise?” Augustus's mother, Pompeiia, a cheery and outspoken lady, called from the window. “Oh, good to see you both. I’ll be coming down with some wine and bread for Augustus.” Soon Pompeiia was in the courtyard. She gave the bread and wine to Augustus, then addressed us.

"It is wonderful to see you,” Pompeiia said brightly. “My husband and I are having a conflict of interest, so if you would just give the fish to the cook instead of bringing it to him for approval first, I'd appreciate it."

"If you don't mind me asking, what kind of conflict of interest?" Octavia asked sharply. "Oh, well, he is talking, in such a silly way, about taking Augustus on his ship soon, so naturally I broke a vase over his head," Pompeiia said lightly. "Would you like any quail?"

I could barely hold in my laughter, of course. Pompeiia shrugged, as though breaking a vase over one's husband's head were something that a Roman woman did every day. Augustus sat in his chair looking petrified and did not appear to have heard. Pompeiia shook him roughly.

"Wake up, you louse!" she shouted in annoyance. Pompeiia was incredibly mercurial and could change from cheerful to annoyed any minute.

We heard humming from under one of the laurel bushes and we jumped. Soon a lady emerged and began viciously breaking off laurel branches, until she noticed us. It was Pompeiia’s unmarried half-sister, Tiberia. "Pompeiia, I thought you were going to the baths," Tiberia said in surprise, looking embarrassed.”

"Goodness, Tiberia, I would have thought that you knew that was a joke. The baths are closed today. Hasn't your mind gained some experience?" Pompeiia said snidely.

"You horrid beast pig!" Tiberia shouted. Both Tiberia and Pompeiia tended to call each other names. "How dare you insult me?"

"And you, Tiberia!" Pompeiia said, and turned her back on Tiberia pointedly. Augustus sniggered. Everyone turned to look at him, and he turned bright red. I sighed and imagined that I could break a vase over Augustus's head just as the badly chinked stone walls of the villa began to collapse around us.

Compare-Contrast: Dragon vs. Magic Carpet

With an ear-splitting roar and a scorching burst of fire, your vehicle lunges through the air, heading straight for an office building. With a sparkling explosion of glass, you careen through the sixth story window and slide into your office, kicking up whirlwinds of paperwork and landing right at your boss’s feet. If this sounds a little too theatrical for your tastes, you might want to consider a more laid back form of transportation such as, say, a magic carpet. Although there are similarities shared by both the magic carpet and the dragon, there are several factors that make these modes of transportation dramatically different.

The environmentally friendly magic carpet offers comfort and low resistance efficiency. Unfortunately, safety isn’t one of the magic carpet’s strong qualities. The magic carpet is not very safe. As Axminister magazine points out, the magic carpet had low safety ratings due to its flimsy Chinese-made material that flips over and tears easily. There are no seatbelts on your standard magic carpet. As one traumatized woman pointed out, “It’s [the magic carpet] flat, there’s…nothing to hang on to when you fall.”

Whatever the magic carpet lacks in safety, it makes up in comfort. Your average magic carpet is silky soft, which virtually eliminates travel sores when riding on it. The standard magic carpet is also typically flat, which allows you to sprawl out. This is useful for red-eye flights on the magic carpet.

It’s not just comfort that makes the magic carpet valuable. Your average magic carpet is very efficient. The standard magic carpet can go up to 150 mph. In this day and age, the environment is one of our top issues. Unlike many other modes of transportation, the magic carpet does not need fuel and it is emissions-neutral. Not to mention the money you’ll save on gas. But money isn’t one of our most important issues—in a recent poll, more people said that they’d like more time than those who wanted more money. The magic carpet can accommodate those wishes—you hardly need any prep time at all to get the magic carpet up and running. All you have to do is jump on… and voila! Plus, the magic carpet doesn’t take up much space at all. Once you’ve arrived at your destination, all you have to do is roll up the magic carpet and stuff it in your backpack.

Sitting up on your magic carpet, you fly through the open door and land lightly. A few people remark, “Nice magic carpet,” but most people barely glance and hurry to get to the elevator. The magic carpet is a fairly laidback way to travel. All magic carpets have intricate Islamic-style geometric patterns but, as popular TV pundit Ali Baba remarked, “they’re pretty, but not too dramatic.” Because of that, riding on a magic carpet isn’t likely to make a huge splash. They’re not too easily seen in the air, and when you fly low, it looks like you’re just sitting down somewhere. They have light colors, so they won’t exactly grab people’s attention.

For those of you who’d like something a little more exciting, you’re probably leaning toward the dragon already. But unfortunately the dragon is unsafe. Many dragons tend to have a psychological need to prove themselves, and often show off by doing dangerous stunts in the air like flips, dives, and spins. Sometimes, dragons also close their eyes while doing stunts, presenting a great danger to the rider. If you aren’t severely injured when a dragon does a stunt, the dragon may finish you off with its giant and powerful tail, which stretches fully backwards and can easily whip you off the dragon’s back. Dragons also belch fire. If you are sitting near the dragon’s head or the dragon is trying to face you, your clothes may be ignited. This is especially bad in the air, because the winds may spread the fire and you might not be able to put the fire out. Dragons often feel hostile toward their owners and may try to eat you while in the air. They are excellent hunters and can easily do this by knocking you off their back and then catching you in their mouth.

Unlike the magic carpet, the dragon is not very comfortable. It has rough scales like sandpaper that may rub against your skin. Dragons consistently grow horns throughout their life all over their body, so you might find a horn digging into your leg during a flight on a dragon. During the flight, you have to sit astride with your legs wrapped around the dragon’s wide body, which can easily give you leg cramps. As Alisha Morton said, “I’d rather take an international magic carpet than a commuter dragon. Those dragons are too darn uncomfortable for any flight!”

Just when you may be thinking that a dragon cannot get any worse, you realize something—the dragon is not nearly as efficient as the magic carpet. After all, you need to feed the dragon huge amounts of food, and dragons prefer eating whole animals as opposed to human portions. After eating such huge meals, it’s no surprise that dragons produce copious amounts of dung and urine. Unfortunately, you’ll be the one to clean that up. To ride a dragon, you must first set up your riding equipment—like your saddle, bridle, reins, spurs, and whip. Even the most expert of dragon riders usually take more than twenty minutes preparing riding equipment—and what if your dragon is being especially rebellious while you’re trying to prepare it for riding? Dragons are typically pretty rebellious. Even with your reins, it’s immensely difficult to control where dragons go, so they usually go wherever they please. When riding on a dragon to go to a beach four miles away, one family found themselves deserted in a bog in another state and had to wait two hours for their dragon to come back.
Dragons are illegal in Italy, Portugal, Tanzania, Kazakhstan, and Guatemala. If you intend to bend the law a bit, or even if you just want to stable your dragon legally, there’s still the issue of storing your dragon. They’re amazingly difficult to store—they make lots of noise, take up lots of room, and are hard to herd into enclosed areas.

Still, if you have a daredevil personality and you don’t mind hard work, the dragon might be the right vehicle for you. As we saw before, the dragon is an impressive mode of travel. They belch fire, announcing your presence to everyone around. They are huge and impressive looking, with their brightly colored scales and large, strong feet. They are very showy, doing stunts whenever they can. As very volatile creatures, the dragon will give you a rebellious, gallant, and daredevil image.

Magic carpets are probably better suited to families or children, whereas the dragon is great to make a point and show off—teenagers will probably find that useful. Whether you decide to ride the magic carpet or the dragon, we wish you happy flying.

Svitak, Adora

[I wrote this from the point of view of the 'girl who would not talk' from Maxine Hong Kingston's story The Girl Who Would Not Talk.]

For lunch, my mother always packed me some dried fish with whole wheat bread and maybe a small apple. Everyone else’s mothers packed them juices and white bread and turkey and cheese. I did not want to look silly eating smelly dried fish in front of everybody else, so I ate at my own table with my sister. The table was blue and square, on a side of the cafeteria. The cafeteria was small and our school was large, so we were lucky to have our own table. No one bothered to sit down with me except for my sister. Everyone else went to the center of the cafeteria, where the conversation was.
It was good to have my own table with my sister, except for two things. My table was too far away for me to be able to look out the windows and too close to the other children, so I could smell their wonderful food and hear what they said about me.
“I think that she should go to the deaf-dumb school.”
“We have a deaf-dumb school?”
“Yeah. It’s called the municipal something-or-the-other deaf-dumb school. Do you think she can hear us?”
“Naw. She’s sitting too far away.” There were some nods of agreement and they munched on their soft white bread in synchrony.
“She isn’t dumb, though. She reads when she’s supposed to. I can’t hear her too well, though.” I did not like their words, but words were only words, and their words bounced off my ears. My sister grinded her teeth and looked as though she would have liked to pummel them. I smiled a secret smile. No one else, even my sister, would understand why I smiled. My father would probably brush the situation off; my sister would get angry; my mother would worry. I would smile. It was fun to hear the kids speculate on whether I was dumb. They had nothing better to do, I supposed, except talk about me and munch on their white bread. I peeled red paint off the wall and chewed on dried fish as I listened to them talk. The way they spoke made time pass more slowly, made it drip out like honey, only laced with bitter vinegar.

Vocabulary Dialogue

Posted by Adri

These are the words the characters are representing: decorum, tirade, vex, torpor.

Four characters are seated at The Peripheral Olive, an expensive candlelit restaurant. Their prim Aunt Esther is footing the bill, so she chose the restaurant. The dad, Steven Winoma, is dressed in a ratty tweed jacket and a pair of corduroy pants that have seen better days. Melody, a moody teenager who typically gets only three hours of sleep, is looking drowsy. Febronia, the baby of the family, is a petted, snotty ten-year-old brat. She is in a mini black dress that only enhances her snotty features.

After five minutes of waiting at the table in uncomfortable silence, a waiter in a white tailcoat comes to the table.

"And have you made your ordering decisions?" he asked smoothly. "Allow me to recommend the Creme du Swordfish."

"Excuse me, young man, but can you tell me where you source your vegetables from? I'll not eat anything that is grown outside of a ten mile radius," Steven said proudly.

"Yo man, why you look so dorky, like? You know, gangsta is the style right now, not 18th century," Febronia demanded. "Now listen, I made a special order for my OJ two minutes ago from that geek over there. Where's my frickin' OJ, huh?"

"Febronia! Do please speak in a less vulgar manner!" Aunt Esther said, much appalled.

"Oh, poo poo you," Febronia said dismissively.

Twenty minutes after Aunt Esther had finally managed to place all their orders, the food arrived. Any normal family would have loved the wonderful steaming smell of fresh vegetables, calzones, and soup, but no one looked particularly appreciative.

Melody slumped forward into her vegetable dish with a loud snore. Aunt Esther looked horribly mortified. Febronia dumped her orange juice onto Melody's head, then mooned the waiter as he came back with a drink for Aunt Esther.

"This behavior is unacceptable," the manager said sternly, coming up behind the waiter, who looked aghast. "Please exit the restaurant."

"Capitalist dogs!" Steven shouted. "Once again we are taking the brunt end of an inhumane police state! Our first amendment rights give us freedom of assembly! I'm taking this to the higher courts, you bleached minions of darkness! Mark my words, the Supreme Court will be in touch!"

"Oh Steven, could you hush! The children are watching," Aunt Esther said reprovingly. "Melody, are you awake?"

Melody's only answer was a loud snore.

History Assignment

History Assignment

Svitak, Adora

I know that the words "history assignment" are rather drab at least. For homework, I have been commanded by the most grand exalted Beastie to write about something I've learned about in history recently.

As a matter of fact, I'm going to write about not "something" but rather "someone." Any guesses? I particularly admire the Greek Herodotus ("The Father of History"), so that's who I will be writing about.

Herodotus was born in about 484 B.C. in Helicarnassus, a Greek colony. He traveled to many different places, like the Asia Minor and Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Babylon. At about 447 B.C. he moved to Athens. He interviewed people to learn about their way of living and their history, and compiled all his findings in his book Histories.

Not all of Histories was exactly pure history, however. Herodotus made up stories to keep his readers' attention. Who knows? Maybe the "Father of History" could more accurately be called the "Father of Tabloids, Yellow Journalism, and Exaggeration and Embellishment." I'm pretty sure that if Herodotus were a historian today, he'd get fired immediately for making stories up. Personally, I sort of like Herodotus for the tales he created. He probably made them to keep people interested, after all. Pretty good publicity skills, huh?

Herodotus wrote a nine-part history that covered the Persian, or Greco-Persian, Wars, which were a series of struggles between Persia and Greece. Recently I did a presentation on "10 Events that shaped Ancient Greece" and most of those events were battles. Honestly, I had a difficult time finding events that weren't--when the Greeks weren't squabbling among themselves, it seems like they always got into wars with superpowers around them.

Herodotus also bothered to cover daily life. Daily life might be boring to us, but the way we live our life will probably be drastically different from the way humans from two centuries into the future will live their lives. I don't know if Herodotus had our interests in mind when he covered people's daily life in his studies, but we should definitely record the way we live our lives for the benefit of future intelligent organisms.

Writing from the point of view of a tooth

"Writing from the point of view of a tooth"
Svitak, Adora

For class, we had an activity to write from the point of view of a tooth. Here's my piece:

I wiggled back and forth.

"Is that a wiggly tooth, Louise?" I heard someone's shrill, echoing voice from outside my dark wet cavernous home.

"Yeah, mom. Dentist said it should come out in a coupla weeks." Now the voice echoed inside my home. I was bounced up and down as the walls opened and closed.

My position in my home was not the best compared to my fellow teeth. When the walls opened, they were always the ones who could see out. But me? I had the sad fate of being located near the wizards (highly respected teeth) but not quite a wizard myself, so when I was pulled, or fell out, no one would mourn me.

10 Events that Shaped the Greek City-States

10 Events that Shaped the Greek City-states

Svitak, Adora

Yesterday afternoon I gave a presentation on 10 Events that Shaped the Greek City-States. I am a wretched procrastinator and I had been working on the PowerPoint just that morning. The whole project was an assignment from Beastie.

I came down to class after my daily nap and remembered another part of my assignment--the "creative element." I had decided that my "creative element" would be edible, some food that the ancient Greeks might have eaten. So I hurried upstairs, opened a can of olives, threw some bread onto a plate, and made a second trip to bring down cups of yogurt. As far as I know, the rest of the class enjoyed the "creative element." Considering that they left no olives behind for me, I'm pretty sure of it.

So that the rest of the class would be able to see the presentation, I hooked up my computer to a projector and projected it onto the whiteboard. Katie was only too eager to help erase the board. I believe she may have thought it would have increased her chances of getting food.We tugged one of the tables out for the projector. At the moment, our classroom looks like a disaster scene because of that move, with the three tables all "lined" up in a weird zigzag and not much room for moving around, either. At the time, the idea of moving the tables struck me as an innovative idea, and the table would be a good place to put the projector.

I started my presentation by introducing Ancient Greece. Unfortunately, I got a little sidetracked when it came to the Ancient Greek gods. Greek mythology is one of my favorite subjects, but when I noted that Hera (Zeus's wife) was also his sister, the class asked me some questions that made it necessary to relate the whole Olympian family tree. I was not distracted for long, however, and we soon got back on topic--10 Events that shaped the Greek city-states.

My presentation described each event and showed how the event affected the Ancient Greek city-states. It also included a brief introduction to Ancient Greece. I enjoyed introducing Ancient Greece to everybody but I wasn't too crazy about the events that I talked about. During the presentation, I slightly regretted opening the whole can of olives--they were depleting rapidly, and I wasn't entirely sure if everybody was paying attention with all the food in front of them.

In general, I considered the presentation a success. There were no technological problems, I had actually managed to find all ten events (a feat I wasn't always sure I would accomplish), and I didn't use too much organic "Greek Gods" yogurt for the creative element. However, I did notice that I forgot to list my sources.

Today's Vocabulary

Opine

to express an opinion

"The talk show host audience member opined that the guest under discussion was a pathetic excuse for a human being."

 

Opprobrious

disgraceful; contemptuous

"Despite his opprobrious addiction to gambling, the congressman was reelected."

 

Quadruped

animal having four feet

"Adrianna wanted to get a pet bird, but I begged for a quadruped."

 

Renegade

1. someone who chooses to live outside of laws or conventions

2. traitor

"The revolutionary Americans were renegades and chose to rebel against British law."

 

Rejoinder

response

"To everything Beastie said, Adora had a clever and impertinent rejoinder."

 

Vocabulary Sentences

Svitak, Adora

The duchess opined that she strongly disliked the leaden snuffbox her husband had given her.

 

"My dear, your plots to poison me are opprobrious," she trilled. "And besides, lead causes slowness in brain development, not immediate death."

 

"But I'm not trying to poison you," the duke protested. "I thought you would like the picture on the top."

 

"It's blurry and blotted," the duchess said in a dismissive voice. "I could just barely tell that the creature in the picture, whatever it is, had four feet."

 

"I thought that it was a very skillfully painted quadruped," the duke said in an offended voice. "And I for one think it was very good for a cat."

 

"Well you are a renegade and you choose not to listen to anything the prominent art critics say," the duchess said contemptuously. 

 

"Huh?" asked the Duke, who had not been listening.

 

"Oh, what an intelligent rejoinder," the duchess said sarcastically. "Why don't you just go and stick your head in a chamber pot."

Today's Vocabulary

 

Vituperate

to abuse verbally

 

Superannuated

too old, obsolete, outdated

 

Prestidigation

Sleight of hand

 

Phalanx

Massed group of soldiers/people

 

Multifarious

diverse

Imagined scene from the life of Thomas Jefferson

Svitak, Adora
Imagined Scene from the life of Thomas Jefferson

“My dear, please pass the salt,” Mr. Jefferson said passively to his daughter Patsy, looking ponderously upon his ham and eggs. “First thing you come home and Cook makes ham without any salt! What will this house come to?” Sighing deeply, Jefferson took the salt from his daughter’s hand and dumped a great deal onto his ham.
“I thought Cook would be on vacation!” Patsy said with evident surprise.
“She’s on vacation as much as a Barbary corsair is going to kiss my feet,” Jefferson said. “Meaning, of course, that she’s most decidedly not.”
“I heard about that. Don’t those men have such funny names?” Patsy laughed.
“Patsy my dear, those “men with such funny names” have been attacking our ships and doing what they please,” Mr. Jefferson said sternly, wagging his finger. “I don’t have a taste for eggs today. Let’s take a walk around Monticello.” Patsy nodded and put on her pinafore. As they walked out, Jefferson tripped on a bust of his own head he had ordered and fell forward onto Patsy’s arm.
“Damn,” he swore under his breath, and tried to regain a proper composure.
“Your own head shall be your fate, Father,” Patsy said, laughing as she leaned back on a white marble column. Jefferson smiled grimly and they strode onto the lawn. Patsy surveyed the plantation with a smile. She could see the slaves picking beans and tobacco. Belle the cow came lumbering out to greet them with her wobbly-legged calf.
“Oh Father! You didn’t tell me Belle had a calf!” Patsy said excitedly, kneeling down to feel the calf’s sandy tongue and getting grass stains on her frock. “It would have been a nice distraction.”
“Exactly,” Jefferson said. “It would have been quite a distraction. You must concentrate on your studies for now, my girl, and when you’re older then I’m sure you’ll be married to some rich young man with a plantation of your own.” Patsy sighed and ran off to see the chickens.
“Wait, Patsy!” Jefferson shouted. His leg was still sore from tripping over the bust and he found it hard to keep up with his nimble daughter.

Indus River Valley

The Indus River Valley, located in modern-day Pakistan, is bigger than Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia squashed together.

 

Unfortunately, archaeologists have to use a lot of guesswork when studying the Indus River Valley. Why?

 

Nobody has yet decoded the language of the Ancient Indus civilization. So we don't know about their gods or whether they had any. Their language appears pictographic but we don't know what words they represent. Most sentences/words seem pretty short.

 

Also, there seems to be no temples in the ruins of the Indus River Valley. This could mean that they made the temples out of wood, may have worshipped outside, or maybe did not believe in gods.

 

We do know that the Indus River Valley people could make metal, lead, and tin, domesticated camels, pigs, traded with the Sumerians, and wore colorful cotton robes.

 

Like the Ancient Egyptians, the women of this civilization wore lipstick; they lived in houses of one to two stories high with private bathrooms, sewer systems, carts with wooden wheels; and had primitive dentists.

 

We're also pretty sure that they had engineers with mathematical skills who planned out their cities. We know that they have mathematical skills from their system of weights and measures.

 

They had figurines of dancing girls, monkeys, bears, and cows. Swastikas have also been found in designs.

 

During the British occupation of India, the British tore down an entire ancient city just so that they could use the rubble for building railroad tracks.  

 

Nobody knows what really happened to this civilization. There are many theories, but there is a lot of controversy over which of these theories are correct.

Today's Vocabulary

Winsome-- charming

"The girl gave the poodle king a winsome smile, hoping that this would prevent him from decapitating her."

 

Voluble-- speaking a lot, talkative

"Trevor was quite voluble, he would never shut up."

 

Sportive-- playful

"The lion roared in pain as the sportive cub bit him on the tail."

 

Solipsism-- belief that oneself is the only reality

"Arthur's solipsism meant that he treated others as though they didn't exist, which tended to annoy them."

 

Sentences

The five-year-old gave a winsome curtsy immediately after her speech, prompting many of the audience to say, "Oh, isn't that cute!"

 

Beastie was incredibly voluble and chattered on and on about monkeys, sewage disposal, Britney Spears, her role model Bobby Jack, and Katie's hair, even after class was done.

 

The sportive president installed working showerheads above the heads of his unsuspecting cabinet so that he could spray water all over in the name of fun.

 

Masag's solipsism made him ignore other people, even when his brother shouted that Masag's tent was on fire.

Today's Vocabulary

Today's Vocabulary

Svitak, Adora

 

We're going to be continuing the serial we presented on January 11th. Below are today's vocabulary words.

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Ignominious-- disgraceful and dishonorable

"I was quite horrified to discover that my ignominious Uncle Herbert had been invited to dinner."

 

Impecunious-- poor, having no money

"After the stock market crashed, many former millionaires found themselves impecunious."

 

Palisade-- a fence made up of stakes

"The tall iron palisade loomed menacingly around the poodle king's palace."

 

Quagmire-- 1. [literal definition] marsh

                 2. difficult situation

"Adrianna put off her homework for a week and found herself in a quagmire." 

 

Recalcitrant-- Resisting authority or control.

"I tried to make Beastie go to bed at time but she was recalcitrant and through a loaf of bread at my head."

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Below is the continued serial. Go to http://seedsoflearning.blogspot.com/2008/01/today-vocabulary.html to find the previous installment.

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Cornelia poured a jar of smelling salts upon the unfortunate Duchess's face. Hearing the great clatter Cornelia made in this process, the footmen and ladies-in-waiting and the Duke himself all came to see what was the matter.

 

"You're upon the floor with your legs showing, my dear! How ignominious!" the Duke boomed. "Rise at once!" He then turned to Cornelia, who was standing defiantly by the Duchess. "Who are you?"

 

"She is just an impecunious little girl," the Duchess said, waking from her swoon. "Her father is only a peddler and does not make much money. But she wants to smelt our ore!"

 

"What? That's our main source of finance! Take her away, quick!" the Duke said, gesticulating wildly. "You footmen! Take the girl away."

 

The footmen grabbed Cornelia by the arms and began dragging her off, but Cornelia was recalcitrant and began kicking and biting viciously. The footmen agreed to throw her over the palisade. Just as Cornelia went flying over to the other side, her skirt caught on a sharpened stake. Without hesitation, Cornelia made a great leap and tackled one of the footmen.

 

"Give me eighty coins or else!" Cornelia threatened, holding onto the footman by his ankles.

 

"The Juvenile Detention Superintendent has come to inspect the odd behavior of the girl named Cornelia!" an approaching herald said importantly.

 

"You are in no position to make unreasonable demands, young lady!" came Cornelia's father's voice.

 

Cornelia shivered. Now she was in quite a quagmire.

Test Tips: Trigger Words

Trigger words leave you a clue to help you fill in the word that comes after. For example,

 

"You're beautiful, but you're _______"

 

When you see a word like "but," you know that the second half of the sentence will contradict the first.

 

"You're beautiful, and you're ________"

 

A word like "and" lets you know that the second half will agree with the first.

 

When you see a trigger word in a test, make a note of it. Decide whether it will contradict or agree with the first part. For instance, a word like "but" will contradict. A word like "and" will agree.

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Trigger Words:

Although, despite, rather, however, yet, even though, on the contrary, in contrast, not only, and, in fact, indeed even

 

Examples:

"Although he was very intelligent, he slept through most of his exams."

 

"She persevered despite warnings from her parents."

 

"It was not a fancy place; rather, it was a bit rundown."

 

Carthisinidge thought his birthday cake was horrible; however, the guests loved it.

 

She had received a 100 on her exam, yet Anna continued to weep. 

 

Even though he had never read a book, he claimed to be a bookworm.

 

The minister of traffic thought the plans would work wonderfully; on the contrary, they were horrific.

 

The princess was sallow and moody; in contrast, her sister was fair and pleasant.

 

Sir Ethapewrnose was not only brilliant, he was kind.

 

The lady was perky and peppy.

 

The lake appeared tranquil; in fact, the only noise to be heard on its banks were the lightly swishing waters.

 

P'awetra appeared upset, indeed even depressed.

Early Capricacia (My Imaginary Country)

Early Capricacia was extremely mountainous, with mountains dividing the country. In early times, hunter-gatherers assembled in bands to hunt the Capricacian yak, a valuable animal both for its hide and for the meat. They typically attacked the yak by surprise with bare hands, but as the hunter-gatherers advanced they began using tools made of flint. Hunting on the treacherous mountain paths, where the yak wandered, was very dangerous, so women would usually scout ahead to see whether trails were safe or not.

From wooden carvings made by early hunter-gatherers, we can assume that the death rate while hunting was fairly high. Many carvings show figures falling off mountains or being trampled by yaks. As time went on, the yak population decreased. There are multiple theories to explain this; the most likely are that interbreeding caused a strain of yak virus, or the population decreased because of overhunting. Some historians believe both.

Capricacian jackals, fierce predators of the yak, began pursuing the yak over the mountains. Some hunter-gatherers followed the yak and continued a nomadic trek across the borders of Capricacia, but the majority stayed in the foothills and stayed in crude huts of some sort. When these residences were destroyed, most likely from a wildfire, the Capricacians built more permanent residences from rock and mud.

Over time, descendants of the hunter-gatherers who had followed the yak returned. They attacked the “civilized” Capricacians. Realizing the need for defenses, the Capricacians surrounded themselves with giant heaps of manure and sharpened wooden stakes to discourage the enemy from entering. Their war was soon won, and the Capricacians turned to agriculture and livestock.

The Capricacian yak, which had mated with the Ankarran goat, returned over the mountains. The Capricacians began domesticating the yaks, and soon after designed the first chariots. The Capricacians used the yak for milk, meat, and clothing. The tail was used in necklaces and bracelets. Its bones were used for needles.

The Capricacians began making decorative ceramics using mud. One vase, preserved extraordinarily well, is covered in decorative flourishes. The Capricacians also began rudimentary mining, digging shallow holes and finding diamonds, topaz, and gold. They used these resources in jewelry.