Buccaneers and Privateers

"From the decline of the Roman Empire until 1500, Europe was burdened by the termoil of endless and pointless wars in which rival noble factions fought one another to exhustion in a cimpetition to expand their personal power. Imperial rulers enlarged their domains primarily by pushing their borders outward throug the military conquest of contiguous territories. The vaguished people and thier lands were brought under the central military and administrative control of the city in which the ruling king or emperor resided (58)."

You always talk to us about how we need to sound knowledgable and aware of all apsect of the subjects we talk about, and as I read through this book it became very clear how helpful it is to sound like you know what you're talking about. This passage is, again, from the book Agenda for a New Economy and as you can see this passage doesn't really have much to do with today's American economy. But that's the novel of it all. The author is giving his audience a sort of background foundation for everything he talks about so that his audience not only trusts what the author tells them, but also has the ability to follow along to all of the reverences. This whole chapter talks about ancient economies and how they grew and didn't grow. All of this comes in really handy knowing that I need to sound this knowledgable in my research paper, and seeing all of this in practice the task itself doesn't feel as daunting. If this author can write an entire "reseach" book than I can certainly write a six page research paper.

Atonement

"But hidden drawers, lockable diaries, and cryptographic systems could not conceal from Briony the simple truth: She had no secrets. Her wish for a harmonious, organized world denied her the reckless possibilities of wrongdoing. Mayhem and destruction were too chaotic for her tastes, and she did not have it in her to be cruel. ... Nothing in her life was sufficiently interesting or shameful to merit hiding; no one knew about the squirrel's skull beneath her bed, but no one wanted to know(5)."

I feel like everyone wants there life to have some aspect of drama, and mystery. This character Briony, her entire life is orderly and in place, she knows where everything is, behaves well, and has an encredible brain. But sometimes that's not enough, in many cases I would say that's not enough. But this passage doesn't only chacaterize, this passage forshadows much of the plot of the book. "Her wish for a harmonious, organized world denied her the reckless possibilities of wrongdoing." Except, everything that happens in this story is because of Briony's wrongdoing. Even her organization couldn't keep her away from making this mistake. Her love for writing and fictionizing blinds her from the reality of something she "think" she see's. "Nothing in her life was sufficiantly interesting or shameful to marit hiding..." Practically every word in the quote foreshadows. It's sort of amazing how some authors have that much control over their writing. I remember reading Toni Morrison both freshman year and last year and being awed by her power over her writing. It just amazes me bacuase when you read something you don't really think about how much work it is to write successfully, meaning that a lot of people don't realize what writing is and perhaps that's because it's in some ways an intangeable thing.

Agenda for a New Economy

"If we look upstream for the ultimate cause of the economic crisis that is tearing so many lives apart, we find an illusion: the belied that money-a mere number created with a simple accounting entry that has no reality outside the human mind- is wealth. Because money represents a claim on so many things essential to our survival and well-being, we easily slip into evaluating economic performance in terms of the rate of financial return to money, essentially the rate at which money is growing, rather than by the economy's contribution to the long-term well-being of people and nature(1)."

As it were, one of my moms friends is out of town fo thanksgiving and she's having me take care of her house and her dogs. And as I was feeding the dogs I noticed a book she had about the economy. And since I really know nothing about the economy and our economic crisis I descided to pick it up and give a quick look over. So, I had just finished woking on my reasearch paper and was having a little bit of trouble thinking up an intoduction, then I took a short break and picked up this book. I probably wouldn't have ever expected the intoduction to have this sort of Dr. Phil sounding tone to it. And in some ways it didn't really relate to the rest of the chapter. Of course, there were the obvious key points made; this illusion that we create about money amounting to our wealth, I get that part, but then when they talk about how this illusion effects the well-being of not only people but of nature as well... I didn't really see were that part was coming from. But this sort of got me think, an introduction doesn't only talk about the key points of the rest of the paper or book, it also has to draw in an adience, convince said person to keep reading rather than put the book down. It didn't bother me that David C. Korten (the author) was talking about nature and it didn't even really bother me that he sounded like Dr. Phil.

Bono

"We're gonna give these kids a ride," says Bono. I look over my right shoulder at the girl from Austria, and I am able to see what it looks like when someone's mind is blown out of her skull; I can almost see her brains and blood splattered across the rear window. The car takes off; Bono drives recklessly, accelerating and braking at random intervals (23)."

It's sort of shocking how much power celebrities have. They're just like normal people only along the lines they made certain career choices and now they're completely separated from normal life and normal people. I feel like this passage sort of embodies the power that Bono has. He can make teenagers go weak in the knees but just like everybody else he used to be a teenager. Klosterman is probably my favorite non-fiction writer, clearly because I use him so often in my blogs. And I think it's because he really knows how to capture an expression. Sure a reader wouldn't really be able to tell that this passage is by Klosterman, but if there were to read the rest of this essay they would realize the clear style that Klosterman has. Even in this short passage about a celebrity, that I personally think is being a little ostentatious, Klosterman expresses the power that Bono has over people through his celebrity.

No one belongs here more then you.

The Man in the Stairs.

"...He was walking in the slowest possible way. He seems to have all the time in the world for this, my God, did he have the time. I have never taken such care with anything. That is my problem with life, I rush through it, like I'm being chased. Even things whose while point is slowness, like drinking relaxing tea. When I drink relaxing tea, I suck it down as if I'm in a contest for who can drink relaxing tea the quickest. Or if I'm in a hot tub with some other people and we're all looking up at the stars, I'll be the first to say, It's so beautiful here. The sooner you say, It's so beautiful here, the quicker you can say, Wow, I'm getting over heated (34)."

I chose this passage because the author's rhetoric sort of pulls the audience into the position of the character portrayed in this story. Or at least when I head this I felt as though I could have been the character. I tend to drink my "relaxing tea" pretty fast and sometimes I feel as though I'm rushing through things. Instead of just creating a character that the readers can learn to understand the author creates a character that resides in each person. And this "man in the stairs" can, in some ways, represent the fear that people might have to realize all of this. It won't hurt to be the last person to get out of the hot tub, or to drink your tea slowly. By the end of this story you realize that this "man" isn't actually there but the story still depicts the chatacter to face him head on, feel his breath, but then she tells him to leave. She faces this fear that she has.

Mitch

It was too bad the movie theater went bankrupt, thought Mitch. If the theater was still in busines, he could buy a ticket for the 7:30 showing of a Saturday-night horrow movie and slip out the rear exit during one of the scenes that were set at night, because the theater would be pitch-black and no one would notice his departure. He could then leave his car in the parking lot and cross town by foot, arriving at Laidlaw's house at 7:55. John Laidlaw was Lutheran, but his wafe was Catholic, and she always wnet to Mass on Saturday night. This would mean Laidlaw would be alone, probably watching Love Boat or Fantasy Island. Mitch could enter the house through the garage, creep into the living room through the kitchen, pounce up from behind the La-Z-Boy, throw a potato sack over Laidlaw's skull, and bash him over the head with a brick. He'd hit him twice, or maybe three times. All the blood would stay on the inside of the bag. Then. while Laidlaw was unconscious, he would drag him down the stairs and tie his (crucifixion style) to the Nautilus machine in the basement; Mitch knew the family owned a Nautilus machine because Laidlaw talked about it all the itme. He would rouse him by throwing ice water in his face...ect (Klosterman).

So... yeah. I found a bit shocking. It completely changed my out look in the character Mitch. At first he seems like this average, maybe thougtful, high school quarter back. And then... he just imagines this randomly. (Laidlaw is his football coach as well as english teacher) The book slightly hints that Mitch doesn't care too much for Laidlaw but never has it gone into such detail like this before. This part is right at then end of the chapter and when I finished it I didn't really know how to react. Theres another line that says, 'The crime would be so brutal that a boy such as himself would be above suspicion.' And that couldn't be more true. It's just so random that a kid like this would have suck a terrifically horrible thought. As soon as I was done with his chapter I wanted to read past the other two characters just so I could know what happened next. How he felt, why he wanted to kill this adult figure. I mean it does say that Laidlaw had a relationship with one of his students and Mitch does mention that that is one of the reasons he hates Laidlaw so much, but that couldn't possibly be any sort of notion to create such a day dream. I will admit that I've some bad thoughts about teachers and my mind does wonder. But never have I thought about a planned and callous murder of one of them.
So, I just thought this was really profound and intense but that's also part of the reason I like it so much. It add a whole new level to Mitches persona and it leaves me, as the reader, wanting to learn more about. I am extremely intrugued to read more chapters about Mitch. He's is probably the most interesting character right now.

Horace

"Doesn't matter," said Marvin. "Doesn't matter what person Columbus was. Doesn't matter how many Indians he killed or didn't kill, or if he was or wasn't an asshole. From what I've read, Columbus probably was an asshole. He probably deserved to get hung. But heres the thing: He didn't get hung. The man climbed on a wooden watercraft and collided with North America by accident. It doesn't matter what happened afterwards or what his motives were. He found it. It happened. He's what history is. It was his destiny to be that particular man, and it was his destiny to do those specific things. But nobody at that newspaper cares about anything that happened before they were born, which is why they don't give space to things like Columbus Day. Which is why I stopped reading the newspaper in '74. After they busted Nixon, it all became bullshit and advertising" (Klosterman).

So I know the name 'Horace doesn't come up in this passage but this is one of Horace's friends talking to him. This passage reminds me of how everything is publicized. Like politics and what not. The election for instance, the media has so much to do with people's perception of everything. Democratic newspapers bash on the Republicans and visa versa. So I just thought it was interesting how Klosterman made a character in this book that, in a way, lives above the media. This passage is very true, I think, because a lot of people don't pay attention to things that aren't relevant to them or things that pertain to them. I hardly know anything about Martin Luther King Jr. and JFK and even Christopher Columbus for that matter. And like this passage says it has a lot to do with newspapers (and media) because they don't talk about things like Columbus Day. When you think about it, having the Owl newspaper push coverage of Columbus Day aside is completely absurd, without Columbus Day they wouldn't be writing ANYTHING for ANY newspaper. I chose this passage because I completely feel the point of view Marvin is convoying.