First they came for the Jews.

I was silent.

I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the communists.

I was silent.

I was not a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists.

I was silent.

I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me.

There was no one left to speak for me.

–Martin Niemoller (1892-1984)

 RiddleFrom Belsen a crate of gold teeth,from Dachau a mountain of shoes,from Auschwitz a skin lampshade,Who killed the Jews?Not I, cries the typist,Not I, cries the engineer,Not I, cries Adolf Eichmann,Not I, cries Albert Speer.My friend Fritz Nova lost his father–a petty official had to choose.My friend Lou Abrahms lost his brother.Who killed the Jews?David Nova swallowed gas,Hyman Abrahms was beaten and starved.Some men signed their papers,and some stood guard,and some herded them in,and some dropped the pellets,and some spread the ashes,and some hosed the walls,and some planted the wheat,and some poured the steel,and some cleared the rails,and some raised the cattle.Some smelled the smoke,some just heard the news.Were they Germans? Were they Nazis?Were they human? Who killed the Jews?The stars will remember the gold,the sun will remember the shoes,the moon will remember the skin.But who killed the Jews?

William Heyen
The Hair: Jacob Korman’s Story

Ten kilometers from Warsaw,
I arrived in Rembertow where
hundreds of Jews had lived
until the wheel turned: Judenrein.

You think they let themselves be taken?
They would not fill the trucks.
Men were shot trying to pull guns
from the guards’ hands.

and hands of dead women
clutched hair, hair of SS guards,
blood-patched hair everywhere,
a velt mit hor, a field of hair.

Total word
count 305

I chose to do three different poems by two different authors all pertaining to the Holocaust. The first two are by William Heyen an American poet, editor, and literary critic. The first poem is titled, “The Hair: The Jacob korman’s story.” It’s a personal account of Jacob Korman who arrives in a Jewish town called, “Rembertow” and sees that the town has changed, that the, “cleansing of Jews” has taken place. He affirms that the Jews didn’t want to leave to their death, and they died in resisting. The poem gives a really simple, yet realistic description of what happened to the men and women there. “Men were shot trying to pull guns from the guards’ hands” and “hands of dead women clutched hair, hair of SS guards…” (lines 7-9). These words really portray the will of the Jewish people to survive and puts it plain and simple, that the holocaust was no joke, Jews would have rather taken their chances fighting an SS officer, than hop of a train headed for certain death. The second poem also by Heyen called, “Riddle” recalls the irony in which the war criminals of the holocaust defended themselves, in many accounts by saying, “I just…did this, and that…” but in truth they did kill the Jews. Many were part of the bigger picture that together helped eliminate 6 million Jews. It is this arrogant denial of murder human kind is capable of that makes this poem worth remembering. Heyen shows how even the biggest Nazi leaders denied any wrong-doing when he writes, “not I, cries the typist, not I, cries the engineer, not I, cries Adolf Eichmann, not I, cries Albert Speer.” (lines 5-8).  Heyen takes the position which Nazi’s wanted people to believe, so Heyen asks the question, “If you didn’t kill the Jews, then who did?” This poem is meaningful because of its message and the feelings It conveys are strong ones and only too easily understood once having read this poem. The third and last poem was written by Martin Niemöller a Lutheran minister who himself was a supporter of Hitler at first, but then opposed him and his acts towards the protestant church, so he was thrown into a concentration camp, where Niemoller came to his senses. The poem speaks of the Nazis taking the Jews and Niemoller himself didn’t do anything because he couldn’t relate because he wasn’t Jewish. He goes on to say, “Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist” (lines4-6). But the poem quickly shifts to a jolting stop in which Niemoller says, “Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me” (lines 10-12). The significance of this is that at the time none of the German figures of authority spoke out against the Nazi party because the Jews Hitler was killing didn’t affect them, so they felt they didn’t need to. But a time came in which Hitler himself would come after politicians and people like Niemoller and it is this ignorance of events at the very beginning that Niemoller regrets. He regrets not speaking out for other groups of people because when his group was targeted and no one was left to speak out for them. This poem teaches an important lesson that Niemoller learned the hard way, to speak out against evil in the name of the truth, to not ignore the pain of others, even if you aren’t the one suffering. 

The obvious recurring image is fire, which is either burning alone or on a book. The images of fire along with figures of firemen connect the two together. The fire fighters burn books in this book and here they are shown as either dark mysterious bad guys or some kid of sub human looking freaks. The cover that speaks to me the most is the last one which shows a figure of a person, a dog, and a few houses in the background. It stands out to me the most because of dark eerie colors like dark reds, blacks, and browns which gives it more of a depressing dark theme. The houses in the background seem old, abandoned, and ghostly unattractive which suggest a fearful and dangerous time. The supposed figure of a man looks more like a destructive robot machine out to do its orders. The way it looks I can tell it has no emotions and it doesn’t look like it would sympathize with a regular human-being. The figure is also armed and I think that’s why the ugly robot dog is put there which gives the armed figure more power and authority and the dog is sort of his only ally in his job and helps enforce his rules. The dog looks vicious and pretty dangerous with his eyes looking so fierce they way they are, his jaw open so wide which goes to suggest he is hungry for something to destroy… Perhaps books? The lack of text on the cover makes for more room so that the image can speak for itself.

When it comes to procrastinating few people are as gifted as I am. I’m not particularly proud but I can say I’ve become quite good at doing it successfully. In my opinion, effective procrastination is very much like a cycle because it has key elements that need to fall into place for the process to begin. Let’s observe!

First, nothing can happen if one doesn’t have a looming deadline in the near future. So anything the teacher says to complete the night, “of” probably qualifies. Of course one can choose simply not to do the assignment, but the essential key is to convince one ‘self there is enough time left. This thought process usually happens more than once throughout various hours of the day. Bleeding the time available to your disposal is the meat and potatoes of procrastination. So at three PM an after school nap is acceptable and a few hours of leisure following that never hurt anyone; that is as long as you know that realistically you will have enough time to complete whatever it is you have. This is where the stakes get significantly higher because there is less and less time remaining, and one has to be careful to not run of out time altogether, which can be so easy to do and is the greatest drawback of procrastination. There is one last step that will either make or break the entire process and that is if you are able to get done what it is you have to do, within the amount of time. This period can be very trying because complete focus and diligent work is required. If one is able to do this he/she is well on their way to the top, or top of the bottom some would say…

From personal experience I can attest that the reasons for procrastinating are few. I have observed and identified these reasons and they are: laziness, lack of interest or time, preference, and sometimes simply no reason at all. I’ve also found that procrastination doesn’t come without its obvious lessons which include, thoughts of never procrastinating again, a feeling of resentment toward the practice, and in most cases like mine, no lesson learned at all, which can only result in further procrastination. I like many other people, am working to break this habit, which I fervently hope I can ditch one day. I don’t think I would be wrong in calling myself a functioning procrastinator.

2. The humans are depicted as evil scientists toying with human genome technology.

4. The parallelism is evident when the scientists toying with a vegetable to when they are  seen messing with a human, which goes to say that this might happen if we continue to genetically manipulate our food. 

5. I interpreted the last phrase to be a sort of a pun. I found it to be more ironic than serious because the context isn’t serious and its sort of funny.

6. The tone is sarcastic and ironic. Without the drawings the tone would be more serious so the added picture definitely help shape the tone Wilson is going for.

The points of Holland’s argument is that Nap’s are good and it is better to be,  “comfortable,” while doing ones work then not having a clear head and trying to be productive. She also goes to say that American’s don’t take naps because they are afraid to indulge in such good things. Her argument can be improved by giving statistical backing about how taking naps can help you focus. I would have to agree with Holland’s argument because I am a long time believer in naps. For example, yesterday I came home from school and I started practicing my saxophone but after just a half hour I realized I was to tired and that the work I was doing at that moment was not worth continuing. Finally, having taken a half hour nap I woke up refreshed and hungry but practiced for two very productive hours.

Don’t TNT Me, Bro

The moral logic of suicide bombing.

By William Saletan “Suicide bombers conducted 658 attacks around the world last year … more than double the number in any of the past 25 years … More than four-fifths of the suicide bombings over that period have occurred in the past seven years, the data show. The bombings have spread to dozens of countries on five continents, killed more than 21,350 people and injured about 50,000 since 1983 … [S]ince 1983, bombers in more than 50 groups from Argentina to Algeria, Croatia to China and India to Indonesia have adapted car bombs to make explosive belts, vests, toys, motorcycles, bikes, boats, backpacks and false-pregnancy stomachs. Of 1,840 incidents in the past 25 years, more than 86 percent have occurred since 2001, and the highest annual numbers have occurred in the past four years.” Here, Saletan used facts to show how suicide bombing has increased and has grown since the last 25 years. The effect is to let the reader know that suicide bombing is spreading to an international status with such bombings on almost each continent. Noting that in the last few years suicide bombing has had its biggest increase which makes this a larger issue then it was in past years.   http://www.slate.com/id/2190101/ 

Is a Dishwasher a Green Machine? THE soapy sponge may not be worth your time.

By Brendan I. Koerner “I’ve always taken great eco-pride in the fact that I hand-wash all my plates and glasses, thereby eliminating the need for an electricity-slurping dishwasher. But my sister says that I’ve got it all wrong—using a machine, she insists, is more environmentally sound than doing the chore yourself. Have my good intentions been for naught?” Here Koerner uses an anecdote. It is being used to pose a question that you might want to consider before you come to a conclusion about the topic. The source is being used in the text to show that like Koerner, many of us have had the same opinion on dishwashing being wasteful, but as the reader continues to read on he is proven wrong.  http://www.slate.com/id/2189612/

1. To make the reader wonder who is “their” and why have their bones been lost? This effect makes his topic slightly more interesting now that you know a bit of what he’s going to talk about before he gives his reason’s why. Analysis
2. An “odd juxtapositions” is apparent when Eiseley talks about technology and robots and then some birds he remembers. Hopefully its affect is to later show how these two intertwine. Rhetorical Strategies
3. They help create an unbiased tone because Eiseley isn’t an expert in robotics but his topic includes them. Tone evaluation
4. To show how closely related machine and human can be. Relationship
5. This pattern of development is effective because it notes how science, but yet the simple things that take place in nature are still more complicated and interesting to Eisleley. Analysis
6. Makes him seem more animal like with words like slithered and seized because snakes slither and seize their prey. Diction

8.It is an interesting shift and by doing this he’s telling us how nature is kind of like the hawks, in that its, “beyond the eyes of men” and that’s how Eiseley feels about nature because he thinks people are too focused with technology and don’t notice the complicated and yet simple state of nature. Synthesis

9. For logos Eiseley talked about advancing technology and for pathos spoke passionately about birds and how he feels he’d rather believe in them above all machines. Being a scientist himself he has some authority and his ethos is taking just as seriously as his facts. All three work together by the birds showing how they are above technology and what it has to offer. Rhetorical strategies

The general argument being made by author Francine Prose in her work I know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read is that American high school students are learning to hate literature. She writes, “my suspicion is that the reason why such texts are not used as often as I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is precisely the reason why they should be thought — that is, because they’re complicated.” In this passage, Prose is suggesting that “books that are regarded as more complex” are being avoided in schools because they are harder to teach, unlike books such as I Know Why the Caged Sings by Maya Angulou; which are found abundantly on high school reading lists, according to Prose. In conclusion, Prose’s Belief is that high school students are becoming less capable of reading and interrupting complex works because they are being cheating in the classroom. They are taught hard books wrong and simple books too often, which make for easy class discussions.

 In my view, Prose is right, because I feel that the books I’ve read in high school haven’t been challenging at all. More Specifically, I believe that those books I’ve read haven’t taught me anything except simple moral concepts and reveal nothing intriguing about the human nature. Although people might object that learning moral concepts is important, I maintain that I would much rather learn about deeper issues that go beyond visible racism and triumphs of characters. Therefore, I conclude that reading, “uncontaminated selections of literature” in high school will help others and I, develop a desire to read more difficult books for pleasure (Prose 97).

 “The angel in the house is dead and no longer lives in the imaginations of either women or men.”

What the assertion above means is that the angel of the house who is, “a nineteenth century…self sacrificing heroine…” is gone and we as a culture of the modern world no longer feel her influencing our actions. That is to say both men and especially women no longer feel the need to, “lie to succeed” and as Virginia Wolf put it, “never let anybody guess that you have a mind of your own.” I think this is mostly true today considering how far we’ve come from the days when women weren’t even aloud to receive an education, let alone write about their opinions. For the most part women today have the same status in society as men. Both men and women are allowed to form their own opinions on matters without having to regard the other sex. In general, I don’t think women are viewed as any less capable then men especially considering that many women today hold powerful positions in government. For example Hilary Clinton, who in some ways is beating her rival Borock Obama. Hilary gives speeches on issues concerning the nation and not just other women. Although she and her opponents may not always be honest, they don’t lie because of the angel of the house, they lie for other reasons. She has to prepare speeches in which she has to satisfy the ears of citizens that are looking for a person that has a strong position on key issues and isn’t overly mutual so to not upset anyone. The same can go for Borock Obama who isn’t affected by the fact that his rival is a female. He treats her just like he would treat a male opponent and doesn’t adjust his arguments so he doesn’t hurt Hilary’s feelings. Even if some people think any less of Hilary and her running for president; they only support the fact that the “angel” is truly dead because that’s evidence of their own mind making its own opinions, with disregarding to the person’s gender.