5th period

Jesus is sometimes referred to as the Rose of Sharon. The phrase "rose of Sharon" comes out of the Old Testament in the Song of Solomon. The verse reads:
"I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys." (Solomon 2:1)

Last week, I wrote a letter to the Columbian editorial board because they recommended a "no" vote on the voter initiative for which I have been campaigning. I-937, the Clean Energy Initiative. My letter was published this Tuesday, Oct. 24th.


My letter:

As a high school student, I cannot vote. If I could, I would vote yes on I-937.

Whichever direction Washington state voters decide to take when it comes to generating electricity, it will be my generation that will have to live with it. It is absurd to imagine at any level that money right now outweighs the future health of this planet and its inhabitants.

Relying on more fossil fuels is not an acceptable road to take. Renewable energy is competitive; conservation and efficiency gains are the most economically viable ways to deal with an energy shortage, yet a new coal power plant is planned for Kalama. We, as a state, lack only the political will to make the investment in clean energy. We need a plan.

I-937 is a plan for the future. Relying on market demands is a plan for the present.

We share a moral obligation to preserve our planet for future generations. My generation is counting on voters in this election to leave us with a plan. We depend on voters to start addressing the issues now that future generations will be left to fix. Rather than debating global warming, we must start dealing with it. To borrow a phrase from Robert Kennedy, “If not now, when?”


What do you all think about renewable energy and the state of the planet we are about to inherit?

to be achieved by the year 2015:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

Tuesday's discussion made me think of these.

Woody Guthrie

Tuesday, October 24th was the official United Nations Day.

It marked the 61st anniversary of the first convening of the United Nations.

Since then, the United Nations has served as a forum through which the nations of this world can peacefully resolve disputes, it has allowed the nations of the world to cooperate to deal with common threats such as environmental and social issues, and most importantly it has provided hope for overcoming the greatest burdens of our time.

In the year 2000 the world's countries pledged to work towards meeting the eight millennium Development Goals by the year 2015.

The goals were as follows:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

If nothing else, I ask that on October 24th we all reflect on what the UN has helped the world to accomplish and what has yet to be accomplished by the world and by our generation.


Brian Tang


UN website: www.un.org

We need to start talking about this. Its tomorrow.

Delany i have Emily's number but i need yours since i dont think well be able to communicate too well through this.

intro to "the birds"

http://www.theatredatabase.com/ancient/aristophanes_008.html

this web page tells all about what looks like most every Greek play there ever was.

http://san.beck.org/EC20-GreekTheatre.html#9

I had an idea for the basic structure of our presentation:

*I'll cover the plot synopsis,
*Jeb covers a little background on the play, Greek theater in general, and the Greeks themselves,
*and Jessica covers the theme(s), especially the idea of birds realizing how much power they can weild when they band together.

If you guys already had plans for what you were going to talk about, that's cool.

I have a small amount of background knowledge on Greek theater that I can sort of remember from middle school.

*Greek and Roman plays are known as the 'classics,'
*Greek theater started out as a means of worshoping the god Dionysus
*In order to worship him, the Greeks would sacrafice a goat
*'The Chorus' started as part of this ceremony
*Thespius was important. I think he was the first 'actor.' i.e. he was the first to break away from the chorus
*Some other guy, whose name I can't recall (it might have even been Aristophanes! Somebody check!) was the first to introduce two or more actors
*The use of masks was common (mainly because in an amphlitheater the audience would not otherwise be able to see facial expressions)
*"The Birds" was written in 414 B.C.E by Aristophanes
*'the machine' referenced in this play (IRIS is carried off by it when she leaves) was known to the Greeks as the 'deus ex machina.' It was basically like a cherry picker. Actors were raised into the air by it to show they were gods and thus 'flying' away

*There's probably more that was hammered into my brain. I just remember a couple really long, cruel tests, one of which I even had to stay after school to finish