ShreyaK

Welcome to Shreya's page! Thank you for taking the time to read my responses!
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Assignment #1 My Hero
According to Joseph Campbell, a hero is someone who risks his life for the good of others. Nelson Mandela is just the man who did this. Under the system of apartheid in South Africa, colored people were horribly discriminated against. Several people resisted apartheid, one of them being Nelson Mandela. Mandela was //willing // to fight against the unjust apartheid government. Starting out as a leader in the underground movement called the African National Congress; Mandela became a warrior in the battle to free South Africa from apartheid. During this time, Mandela performed a //physical task by protesting and fighting against the government //. However, he could not continue his life of rebellions and protests since he was sentenced to life in prison. During his absence, Nelson Mandela counted on his followers to continue to fight against apartheid. After twenty-seven years in prison, Mandela was freed. His time in prison caused him to go through a //"transformation of consciousness" // in which he realized that "self-control, discipline, and focus are essential to leadership" and would be a better weapon to fight with than protests. Without Nelson Mandela //risking his life protesting and resisting // against the government, South Africans today would not have the luxury of freedom and independence.

[[image:mythmakers/nelson-mandela.jpg width="201" height="270" caption="Nelson Mandela"]]
http://www.nelsonmandelaonline.net/



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nelson_Mandela%27s_prison_cell,_Robben_Island,_South_Africa.jpg

Assignment #2 The Golden Age
Growing up in the cold north caused me to love and enjoy the snow, and I would like to recreate that snowy place with my golden age. My golden age is a town full of pure, white snow. The streets and buildings are all covered in a thick, frosty layer of snow. Everyone who lives here loves snow, and they all live in harmony with each other without any problems or conflicts. Every day in this snow town, I would ski and build snowmen and not worry about school or homework since it does not exist. After I spend a sufficient amount of time in the cold, I would go inside the ski lodge located at the center of the snow town. There, I would drink my favorite hot cocoa and talk to the local snow lovers residing in the ski lodge. I also would roam the streets ice skating to ice cream parlors serving all my favorite frozen treats. During my leisure time, I would invite all my friends over to eat snow cones and have snowball fights. At the end of the day, I would retreat to a giant castle made out of ice just for me! The castle is fully equipped with everything I love including movies, books, and food! Without work or problems to worry about, and only fun to have, this world would be perfect for me.

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Assignment #3 The God Teacher
A year ago, I received an iPod touch for my birthday. I have wanted this iPod for such a long time, and it made my day when I got. After I got it, I constantly could not stop using it! This gift was one of the best ones I have ever had since I never got bored using it, and it had a lot of cool stuff. All day and every day, I kept downloading games and music! Eventually, it became a distraction and caused my grades to drop. I also did not have time to do my homework since I was too preoccupied with my iPod. Sometimes I even stayed up till two or three in the morning using it. My parents even contemplated about taking it away. After realizing what this gift was doing to me, I set up a routine for myself that allowed me to use my iPod only after I have finished all my work. Today, I still use that routine, and my iPod had stopped being a distraction.

http://www.newtonshead.com/product/7320/sell-ipod-touch-4th-generation-64gb/

Assignment #4 Part I End of Childhood Experience
An event that ended childhood for me was the death of my grandfather. While growing up, I never really understood the impact of a death in the family. Whenever I saw someone mourning for a loss, I did not know how to sympathize with them since I never have been in their shoes. However, one day I finally felt the feeling of losing someone. My mom and I were in the car driving back from school, and she got a phone call that told her the news of her father's passing. My mother was never the one to cry, but seeing her have an emotional breakdown caused me to realize why people reacted sadly to a loss. This death taught me that life is a valuable gift because you can only live once, and that death is a serious matter because you will never be able to see the loved ones who passed away. This rude awakening changed the way I witnessed life and made me realize that I should live life to its fullest.

http://medicmadness.com/2011/05/rest-in-peace/

Jack and Jill went up the hill

 * to fetch a pail of water **
 * Jack fell down and broke his crown **
 * And Jill came tumbling after. **
 * Up got Jack, and home did trot **
 * As fast as he could caper **
 * He went to bed and bound his head **
 * With vinegar and brown paper. **

Children recite this poem without knowing the real story about these lyrics. This poem is based in France during the reign of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. In this poem, Jack is King Louis XVI who lost his crown, and Jill is Queen Marie Antoinette who lost her power to rule after him. The line "bound his head with vinegar and brown paper" refers to the beheading of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. Innocence is shown here because children do not know that the poem is about the downfall and beheadings of monarchs. They think it is a fun nursery rhyme to sing, but if they knew the story behind it, I think they would never sing it again. []

[[image:LouisXVI.jpg caption="King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antionette"]]
http://www.cem.msu.edu/~cem333/LouisXVII.html

Assignment #6 The End of Time
http://www.layoutsparks.com/1/67877/island-holiday-water-waves.html

The young ones gaze As the waves of destruction pass by But they are not fazed Since they know old life will die

The old ones warned them that the end was near There is no place to hide But not to fear The pain will soon subside

So, they look upon their land of sin submerging under the flood and view it as a chance to begin without the evil and blood

It soon becomes their turn to bring forth renewal and to heal the burn left by the cruel

So, the young work together With nourishment and care And soon Life flourished Without any despair

But, the end will come again And the young will grow old The good will turn bad And the flood will once again end all that they had

I think that I am more like Deucalion because I believe there is always rebirth and renewal after bad things, and I believe it is a continuous cycle of good and bad. I am also the type of person to start something new and take new opportunities.

Assignment #7 Changes in the Stories
http://sharonmontrose.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-in-shop-donkey-ears.html

In the story //Midas //, transformations and changes take place. First of all, Midas is a king who has a love for gold. When given the opportunity, Midas wishes to have the power to change whatever he wants into gold. This is a transformation because the objects he touches turn to gold. At first, it seems like this power is a reward, but it soon become a punishment when his food and water become gold. Dionysus, the god who gave him this power, tells Midas to bathe in a special steam to wash away the golden touch. Dionysus also gives Midas important advice telling him to “think more carefully before setting his judgment against that of a god." Midas; however, pays no attention to this. When Midas thinks Tmulus is a better pipe player than Apollo, Midas acts stubborn and protests against Apollo and Tmolus. Apollo cannot take this mortal's behavior and changes Midas' ears into donkey ears. This is transformation that is a punishment because Midas must live with donkey ears for the rest of his life! In the end, both of the transformations that happened to Midas resulted in a punishment.

Assignment #8 Changes in our World
Changes in our world occur every day. Changes are transformations we can undergo as a society, or they can be something we witness as an individual. An example of a change in our society is the way we buy, use, and spend things. In the past, people were very frugal with handling what they had. People only bought what they needed to survive. They never thought about buying luxuries and were satisfied with the little they owned. Today, we buy things mostly for our entertainment. We do not thing about the use of what we buy, and we want more after we buy it. As we moved from the past to the present, we felt the feeling of luxury and content and decided to fulfill it with buying more. In the end, we changed from being satisfied with what we had to wanting more and more.

http://westseattlecoinsblog.com/category/scrap/

Assignment #9 My Favorite Season of the Year
My favorite season has to be fall. Fall has always been the best time of year for me. I love the feeling of the fall breeze against my face, and I enjoy the warmth of the sun on my skin. The color of the leaves start to change into beautiful reds and oranges, and the days become shorter. The animals prepare for their hibernation, and the weather starts to cool down from summer. Fall is also a time for many celebrations. Thanksgiving occurs during fall, and I love to spend it with my family and friends. My mom's birthday is also during fall, and I love to celebrate that as well. One of the best parts of this season is Halloween! Every Halloween, I pass out candy and scare little children! This season also exemplifies the archetype of the fall of innocence. Like a child falling from his innocence and going through the cycle of death and rebirth, the leaves of a tree fall from a branch and come back after winter like rebirth. The animals preparing for hibernation and the leaves dyeing can also be interpreted as the fall from childhood because everything becomes cold and barren after. In conclusion, this season is the perfect environment for me.

. http://www.weather.com/activities/driving/fallfoliage/slideshow/fall_foliage_09.html

Assignment #10 What Have I Learned?
The stories used in this unit set up a cycle in our life and give life a meaning not understood by many. We start out with a content and peaceful way of living. Our god teacher helps us in this peaceful time by teaching and giving us knowledge. As we gain knowledge, we start to to turn bad. Our golden age starts to loose its perfect complexion and happiness. This brings forth the turning point in our life. We loose our innocence and become even more corrupt. We want to be civilized, but we only fight among ourselves making it worse.The Gods see this unrest and decide to help. They call upon flood which washes our sins away, and a new start is left behind. Changes begin to take place, and we bring forth renewal and rebirth. Here, we become the golden age we have always sought after, but the time of destruction will come again.

This explains the cycle everyone goes through. People die and live, but they always strive to become perfect and happy. In order for this to happen, people must take the responsibility to rebuild their golden age. We claim to be perfect, but we really are not. In the end, we try to improve life to make it perfect, but we will always loose and gain. In conclusion, this book has taught me the constant pattern of life, and learning this made me realize good things will come out of the bad; but to always strive for the best of things.

[[image:Earth-is-in-our-hands.gif width="320" height="320"]]
http://www.breakyouthrough.com/i-feel-the-earth-move-under-my-feet