Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Puritans

So, we have to do this assignment for english: research Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Craz... er.. Puritans. Here's what I found: Hawthorne is realted to Judge Hathorne, a judge in the Salem witch trials. He was born ibn salem, and his great-great-great grandfather was a Puritan. He also probably faked an illness, because he waas injured once while playing "bat and ball" (a prototype of baseball), and became lame and invalid, even thought the doctors examined him and found nothing wrong. Faker. He was also a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and met Abraham Lincoln. Also, he had some sort of petty rivalry with Edgar Allan Poe, who reviewed his books and stories and constantly accused him of plagiarism.

Really?
Really?
He also apparently didn't have much confidence in intellectuals and artists, so he kind of kept some Puritan ideals...
After his death, there was a big dispute between his wife and his editor, and later his son was convicted of defrauding the public, by selling over 3 million shares in a nonexistent silver mine to the public.

It''s interesting the connections that he has to the Puritans, like the fact that when one woman was being put to death during the Salem witch trials she cursed his family, which was the basis for him writing the House of the Seven Gables.
Interesting stuff, eh?

I thought so too.

--Noah

When I Knew I Was an American

Hey everyone,

Today's post: When I knew I was an American. Now, when I was really little, my parents were very concerned about me keeping my Puerto Rican side intact. Thus, they talked to me in spanish until I was about 2. At this point, they were trying to get me into some sort of bilingual kindergarten program. That failed, and I had started to pick up some english. Their plan collapsed about then. I had to speak english in order to get into the good schools/kindergartens. By the time I was 3, I was speaking english fluently, and the battle began to keep my spanish. It got worse when I learned italian back when I went to Italy for a semester ( by the way, if you ever get the chance to go to Italy, take it. BEST foreign country EVER). Right now, my italian is really rusty, my spanish is good, and my english is great.

I guess I just always instinctively knew I was American. Back when I was little, I always thought I was an American, even though I was also Puerto Rican and Texan (because, in truth, Texas is the Sicily of the US). It's not like there was a certain point at which I suddenly and miraculously knew I was an American...

I think...

--Noah SS

Us Vs. Them

First of all, I'm going to put up a little disclaimer:

*WARNING*
This post contains high levels of NERDY RANTS. MAINLY ABOUT GAMES. If you don't want to listen to this (or read it, more accurately) please skip this post.

Now, to the important stuff. Today's blog topic is about "Us vs. Them" mentalities. So, immediately, I thought of what happens in WoW and on the Internet all the time. Mainly, players go around attacking and killing low-level players in starting zones. This technique is called "ganking" and it happens mainly on PvP servers (where players on one faction area allowed to attack players on the other faction at any time). Some players enjoy killing random NPCs (non-player characters) that provide quests in order to make life more difficult for other players. Some players are just jerks that go around to the capital cities killing everyone. On forums, there seems to be a definite anti Horde/Alliance feel, where players get polarized. However, as long as it doesn't end in death, it's actually kind of fun. Sure, there are people who seem to be way too focused on the game, and take it way too seriously. However, there are people who are content to let them be over-competitive and aggressive. They don't matter, because they're n00bs.

-- Noah