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

John Proctor: Hero... Or Stooge?

Hello again, those of you reading my blog.
It's time for today's post.

I know, what could be more fun than that?

Anyways, we read The Crucible today, and a question was posed about John Proctor, a character in the book (play? Oh, whatever). Anyways, Mr. McCarthy asked if he was (as i said in the title) a hero or a Scrooge... I mean stooge. It set me thinking, not only about the fact that I accidentally read the whole book apparently, but also that he's probably a stooge. I mean, his wife is being accused and he can't do anything. Abigail has him in a moral dilemma.If he tells the town she's lying, he has to tell them that he had an affair with Abigail.

I can imagine that would work really well:

PROCTOR: Oh hey everyone, I forgot to tell you that I had an affair with Abigail. Oh, and she's a mean, conniving little **** who's trying to kill my wife.

That would work so well...

But anyways, he's faced with a lose-lose situation, but he does persevere through it and try to save his wife, so he's a hero.

Or maybe he's both.

And now we get to the part where my head starts hurting.

-- Noah

Sinners in the Eyes of an Angry God

Anyways, it's time for this week's post.

Yay.

This week we read a sermon by Jonathan Edwards, one of those really radical preacher guys back when the pilgrims traveled to the US. His sermon, whose title is reprinted above, is basically all sorts of stuff about how God hates them all so much. I could imagine being a little kid whose parents said "Hey, let's go to this awesome sermon!" and going, then being scared out of my mind that God's going to kill me...

Which I guess kind of true...

But anyways, I figure it's a really great way to enforce a theocracy, because it's propagandizing little kids by telling them to straighten up and fly right, or God's going to make you suffer horribly. Another way they squashed individual rights was by not allowing books. What a great way to get rid of opposing viewpoints! Then, there's the whole sermon thing, which really instill the fear of God (sorry for the horrible pun) in people.

How excellent.

-Noah

There Goes the Neighborhood

So I've been thinking (an it was an assignment topic anyways) about the invasion of the Americas by the European forces, and all of the horrible things that happened to the people already living here. I mean, what with the diseases (as in smallpox and hemorraghic fever) and the slavery and systematic extermination of the local population, this really would be a "there goes the neighborhood" type moment, as in "Oh my! Half the neighborhood's gone, a.k.a. dead!". In fact in some areas, the entire native population was wiped out in just 50 years. Then, of course, you have the toppling of once-mighty civilizations and empires that had stood for hundreds of years. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if the europeans had never discovered the Americas. Would overcrowding turn Europe into a heavily crowded mess of cities with barely any space in between? Would the Aztecs mount expeditions across the Atlantic and find huge megalopolises taking up all of the space, with barely any room in between and a huge income disparity? Would European nations go east to Russia or China?

Ah, I love alternate universe scenarios....

- Noah

Intros and English and Blogs... If I say "Oh My!", will I be sued?

Okay, anyways this is the intro title for my new blog. For those complete strangers who might possibly be reading this straight off the Internet, my name is Noah Suarez-Sikes, and this is part of a blog project for English. I might update it in between with random thoughts or something like that, but for now I'm going to assume that everyone reading this at the moment is part of my English class.

I'm a freshman at WY, as most of you know, and before anyone says anything, yes, I am a a bit of a geek. Okay, a LOT of a geek, given that I play World of Warcraft (don't make any no-lifer jokes). My parents are professors at DePaul University, and my dad does Photoshop and Illustrator stuff, which, coupled with the fact that I've used Blogger before, means that I'll be posting some new artwork on the website, as soon as I get off my lazy a** to do it. Also, tell me if I have any typos, because those things infuriate me.

Finally, please excuse any nerdy WoW references I make, or any references that I make, or any sort of horrible autograph pun or something like that. I can't help it...

Signing off (see?),

Noah