Thankful

     It's that time of the year again, and I'm supposed to be thankful for what I have. There are certainly things I am grateful for having and actually take for granted when I shouldn't, and things that I am completely not thankful for. Now that I've stated this, I am thankful for one person in my English II class, and that is Kevin.

     He is certainly no my best friend, but he is fun to have around. I find it interesting that we "known" each other since elementary school. We were not in the same class; we never saw each other but knew the other existed. Coming here to Whitney, I could easily point out Kevin was from my elementary school. Seeing me, he could easily point out I came from the same school as him. Just interesting how that all turned out. He has that interesting character that makes you laugh whenever he says something. He is mostly messing around all the time, but still a guy with a personality you want to hang out with...I think. He started Deck Club with another person, and that is a huge success from a group of sophomore Asians, and a couple white kid's who are close with those Asian's. I'm not going to participate in the club for the next couple of months, which I will state the reason why later. But all in all, I'm thankful for him to be in this class.

     Enough about Kevin and this small world, let's go bigger. I'm also thankful for all my friends around school, they have supported me through rough times. I am thankful for my friends outside school. All my friends around me won't shoo me away, which is an improvement of what I thought would be true. I thank all the seniors from last year for not hazing me. I thank my family, for staying together all these years, because I know some people whose lives have dramatically took a turn from that.

     Now that I have listed all the things I am thankful for, there are two things I am not thankful for. Swim team's season started, and it will be a long road ahead. Mornings and afternoons plus weekends is not fun. Trust me. Spending half of your day at school is also not fun. It will also reduce your social life and deplete all the time you have for other clubs and activities. Like before, let's go bigger. Something that is out of our whole social zone, but still something we all know. AMERICA!

    Yes, it's America's governing I am not thankful for. Sure, we live in a country that allows us certain rights, but it is granted that these rights would not exist if the country fell apart, which is something that is happening as I speak.

     After WWII, we owed a sum of debt from Roosevelt's extravagant spending plans to rebuild America, and the war cost. After that, the bill has lost its value as the U.S. started borrowing money from other countries and corporations inside the U.S. Ever since, industries have moved across to other countries, and the U.S. has been mainly consuming while others produced. Argue all you want against my point. Go ahead. Every reason you come up with to argue the U.S. is not in downfall will actually prove my point that America is going down the drain and many American's are either oblivious to it or they won't bite the bullet. That debt is at 16 trillion right? Wrong. It is at 17 trillion and counting. Look at China. Oh, all the anger coming at me for pointing this out, but China is rising. We are falling behind. High speed rail trains there are at 350 km/hr. We are stuck with the good ole' fashioned, outdated diesel engine trains that pull us across America. Plans to make high speed rails are still in planning, planning constructions to 2030. We may live in a somewhat decent lifestyle now, but the clock is ticking and our time may be up anytime now. Therefore, I am not thankful for what is happening to the country right now.

     But, at the moment right now, I am thankful for my friend Kevin, all my friends in my circle, and my family. Hopefully, I get to be thankful for the next several decades.

I Celebrate Myself

     This is a term not everyone hears everyday. I never even heard of this or thought about it. I know we have to type something about Transcendentalism, but I am not sure, so I'll just write the background. What is Transcendentalism then?

     Transcendentalism was a religious and philosophical movement that was developed during the late 1820s and 1830s in the Eastern region of the United States as a protest against the general state of culture and society, and in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard University and the doctrine of the Unitarian church taught at Harvard Divinity School. Among the transcendentalists' core beliefs was the inherent goodness of both people and nature.

     The Transcendentalists stood at the heart of The American Renaissance; the flowering of the United States thought in literature, poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture, and music in the period. Authors such as Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Margaret Fuller, the Alcotts, Theodore Parker, Jones Very, George Ripley, the Peabody Sisters, and the Channings were involved in this movement. Transcendentalism was far broader than a geographical phenomenon or a select club membership, although Ripley and Emerson had founded the Transcendental Club in 1836. Rather it was a faith shared with diverse minds and diverse places as those of Walt Whitman in Brooklyn or Emily Dickinson in Amherst or the Hudson River School of painters in New York.

     Many of these authors have written poems that were criticized at the time they were written, for not following the conventional methods. However, I disagree. Even though it takes me five minutes to understand one line, they do bring in certain ideas and ways of writing that have lasted into the modern day.