Meerkats are small mammals of the mongoose family and live in the Kalahari Desert in Africa. Their height is about 30cm long, their tails are about 20cm, and they weigh approximately 4 kilograms. Meerkats are also called suricates. Meerkats have brown, gray, or orange fur and they have closeable ears. These small animals have four Read more…
Crane’s The Third Violet is essentially a love story between an artist and a girl with a higher social status than he. Situated in a peaceful rural area where vacationers can enjoy hikes in the woods and picnics near streams and rivers, The Third Violet has been criticized as a work that is confusing, and too short, and “were it not for the dog and one or two touches of nature, we would not like it at all” (unsigned). This speaks volumes about the critic’s opinion on this particular story. He or she plainly disliked it.
Because Weiland and Wilsey wanted personal stories about experiences with the state, Smith tells about this one illegal adventure to the island she had with her father. She talks about swimming off a boat to the island, which was trespassing and completely forbidden. Not only were they breaking the law, but they ended up encountering a group of sharks, all gathered under their boat. During the time on Ni’ihau, they beachcombed together, finding human bones. The hundred-year-old skulls they found lying around on the beach under the sand were forbidden to be touched because “To touch a bone, especially a Hawaii’an one, disturbs its mana, the life force Hawaiians believe inhabits all things.”
Untitled The flowers cried sadly While their friends the trees died, Screaming in agony, Wounded by human pride. For though no man could hear The grief of those so near Their hearts were filled with guilt For killing those nature built.
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. George Bernard Shaw This quote reflects George Bernard Shaw’s economic beliefs, although it can be interpreted in a few different ways. For example, in America today, we have a progressive tax system, established in part by the Read more…
The River of Life “Bilbo used to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary.” Frodo, The Fellowship of the Ring Bilbo Baggins had a very consistent way of life, but when Gandalf Read more…
COURAGE Courage is a trait; it helps create heroes and aids in the destruction of villains. People all over the world have gained this trait and used it to protect what they believe in and what they love. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an African-American social rights activist who fought for Read more…
A Wish’s Journey It starts with a shiny penny plunging through the fountain. It continues with the quick flick of a fallen eyelash. Next it’s blown and travels the air from a dandelion, And it blossoms when met with a shooting star’s dashing flash. It is dazzled when encountered by a simple wishbone. Read more…
The author is persuasive and clever. “I was confused, of course. I’d fallen in love not with this person, but with this place.” This reveals who she is and how she was in love with Vermont, rather than the person that brought her there. Also, “What’s so compelling to me about the mountains? Is it that there’s always somewhere to go? Is it the supramundane perspective afforded by a summit? Is it genetics?” The repeated “Is it …” provokes us to learn all the reasons why Bechdel would stay in Vermont. “I always feel a little out of place, but it’s place, of course, that binds me to these people.” This reveals that the reason she remained is that she truly adores the state, viewing it as more than the people there. Through this, the reader can feel as if Vermont is Bechdel and Bechdel is Vermont, since the place is what keeps her lingering: “…our microclimate, our brief spring-times, the particular contours and declivities of our rural, plural habitat.” The readers feel an invisible bonding among the citizens of Vermont, their unique love for their state, and their independence.
The Federal Writers’ project assigned over six thousand American writers, researchers, and others to put together something that would represent America. Each state had a guide, some of which were over 500 pages, composed of essays written on all imaginable topics of that state. Weiland and Wilsey thought that 21st century America needed something similar to the Guide Series, a book that would explain America to the people who lived in it. As Weiland put it in his preface to the book, “despite drive-time radio and the nightly news and the Sunday paper, despite all the books and blog posts, the documentaries and songs, America and the lives lived here remain strangely and surprisingly under described.”
