A Look Back

I never really enjoyed writing all that much. I was never really good at

it. However, just because you are not good at something does not mean that you should give up at it. I did these pieces to the best of my ability. Some

turned out better than others, but in general I am not impressed. I lack both the skill to write a good paper and to appreciate it once it is finished.

The Journey of a Merchant Hello, my name is Joe Sullivan and I am a merchant. I am a well rounded person and perform many duties in my very

large kingdom. On an ordinary day you can find me making deals in town. I am always trying to gain a competitive edge. I am

very logical, practical and realistic. This week I am going on journey to another kingdom. My king is interested in claiming

some of the flatlands of this other kingdom. Therefore I am going to sort out the deal.

This kingdom is very far away so I must pack quite heavily. I will need a great deal of food, some supplies for

setting up camp along the way and that letter from the King. If you ask me I think that the king should take care of his own

long distance ordeals. He should get off his lazy bum and go himself. However I do enjoy a good journey. I am not the only one

going. There are a number of people who are going to the other kingdom. I plan to travel with them so we may all travel

safely under each others’ protection. The journey will take us over mountains and through valleys. It would be unwise for one

to make such a trip alone.

I am also interested in the culture of this other kingdom. All I have ever known is what I have seen. I do not

possess the eyesight to see beyond the horizon. I wonder how different things are there, what the people do for fun. I am told

that our kingdom is supreme and all others look to us for their way of life. I have my doubts about this theory. Everyone

can’t live the same way that is against human nature. I am excited to meet the merchant of their kingdom. I must stick to

business while I am there. The group I am travelling with will not be going for the same reasons I am. They are going to

seek wisdom in a religion worshipped exclusively by that kingdom. They only plan to stay for a few days. I personally think

that their beliefs are nonsense. All that exists is what we know, why would there be anything else? I would not dare to tell

them what I think though. I must keep myself in their best interest if I plan to survive the journey. There is a doctor among

them who will heal me of my sicknesses if I should contract one.

My business is a work best done by those who have a firm grip on reality and logic. It will not be easy to convince

this other kingdom to give up a quarter of their land to us. I would assume that our kingdom is viewed as a bunch of power

hungry fools. On the other hand; we are the largest kingdom in the known world, and they would not dare face a war with us.

To do so would mean certain domination of all their land. I would assume they would rather keep three quarters of it rather

than lose it all. It is obvious that my job is not to bargain with them, but to simply tell them what we are going to do. The

petite details of exactly what we take will be under my jurisdiction. The king bestows great trust in me, which is why I honor

him.

Eternal Glory

Eternal glory was a belief of ancient societies such as Greeks, Germans, and many others. The desire to

have some aspect of oneself to be eternal was desired. People didn‟t want death to end their story. In the Anglo-

Saxon epic poem known as “Beowulf”, the character Beowulf seeks no treasure or powers; he only wants the glory

and fame of accomplishing inhuman feats. Within the poem, Beowulf seeks glory on his arrival, in the battle with

Grendel, and the battle with Grendel‟s mother. Beowulf also represents the powers of good overcoming the powers of

evil.

Upon a great number of attacks by a demon rooted from hell, Beowulf and his comrades decide to help out

the distressed land of the Danes. On their arrival at the Danish shore Beowulf presents an epic introduction, as it is

written in the poem, “unlocking words from deep in his chest „We are Geats, Men who follow Higlac. … [We] know

that your country is cursed with some strange, vicious creature…‟” (ll 154-170). The author uses very intense

wording to describe Beowulf‟s opening speech at the Danish coast. This is this way so that the guard in the story

would remember the moment the great warrior came to rescue his people. He would later then tell it to others as a

great moment. This section is designed to start off a great session of glory that Beowulf will receive in his business

in the Danes territory.

The time comes when Beowulf is to fight with the tormenter of the Danes. The beast was named Grendel.

The description of this creature had epic details and he will now confront the glorious hero. The battle is very

intense and gruesome. Beowulf is victorious when he rips Grendel‟s arm off. His fame increases when, “The battle

was over, Beowulf had been granted new glory … after that bloody combat, the Danes laughed with delight.” (ll

377-383). The Danes had struggled for years to rid their kingdom of this beast, and Beowulf takes care of it in one

night. The battle is very detailed and accents Beowulf‟s strong will and resiliency. It is told in the story as if he

can accomplish anything, as if he will battle with the devil himself.

Beowulf continues to establish the force of good, over that of the force of evill Grendel‟s mother is now

furious over the death of her son and seeks vengeance. In this battle, Beowulf is on his own in the home cave of

Grendel‟s Mother, alone and all he has is his strength to help him. He finds a sword on the wall that has legendary

mythical qualities to it. This is the only sword which can sleigh Grendel‟s mother. After Beowulf executes another

foul beast a, “Brilliant light shone, suddenly, as though burning in that hall, and as bright as Heaven‟s own candle, lit

in the sky.” (ll 498-500). This light is the good that Beowulf represents, triumphing over the evil that Grendel and

family represent. Beowulf is then credited with the defeat of all evil, the greatest accomplishment. This sends

Beowulf‟s glory record over the top. This is actually now a problem as one will discover in his next battle many

years later.

These three battles Beowulf overcomes are of an inhuman ability. The glory he accepts is enough to make

his story eternal within the world of the poem. The amount of detail the author shows within this epic tale

illustrates that people of his time were extremely concerned with their life and how they wanted to be remembered.

An Unlimited Perspective

It was January 20th, 2009. Typically known as the day everyone goes back to work after

a nice Monday off. However my team had been working for months to prepare for this day. I

was in a nice heated cab of semi truck about 200 yards behind the podium where the future

president, Barack Obama, would be named. This was no ordinary semi though; it contained over

500,000 dollars of NBC’s finest broadcasting equipment. I was in the business end of NBC’s

Mobile Broadcasting Unit Number 7. We had hundreds of other units around us, including

CNN, C-Span, ABC, CBS, about 12 internet units, and a swarm of international units with

satellites aimed at the nice clear sky. I wasn’t surprised however; the overall cost of this event was

$75 million. Big wigs wanted this shown on every television in America, and maybe even the world.

We had over 20 cameras on the field, everything from tower cameras with 2 foot long

telephoto lenses, to a select few guys to grab the media zone right in front of the podium with wide

angle lenses. I silently stared at a wall that was painted a sort of silvery white. In the dark, our

new projector could use the wall as one screen or as many as 24 divided sections with unlimited

combinations of size and position. Such a spectacle seems pointless when the end result is only one

screen, but it takes more than a fancy wall to put that one screen together. It was early, so early

no one had even shown up for the ceremony. I stepped outside while my crew prepared to fire up

after a long and troublesome setup. Like clockwork at 7:00 am a mighty yet fairly clean running

generator truck turned over about 6 times before it decided to run. A sound almost like gunshots as

massive breakers were flipped on and the field began to come to life. The mixture of sun and

parking lamps showed ridiculous spaghetti of cables all over the depressed grass. Cords as thick

as your arm would trip you without hesitation but it was the small ones you had to watch out for;

they would hook on your shoe and then just trail with you until they decided to topple you over.

The smell of coffee and diesel fuel filled the air and I climbed back into the blue paneled cab. The

day had officially started…

A Modest Proposal

At present time the United States of America is plagued with an

infestation of Mexican immigrants. These mindless lemmings

frequently are crossing the U.S. Mexico border without going through

the proper procedures of citizenship. When asked why they do such a

thing, most of them utter the phrase, “No habla Ingles”. We can only

assume that this means, “I have no idea”. Fence hopping Mexicans that

can comprehend our language always make a reference to making

more money in the U.S. However, it is common knowledge that no one

makes enough money around here. The economic problem itself is

caused by an influx of Mexican workers taking American’s jobs.

Through scientific research done by a third party, we can clearly

state that the average Mexican has no logical thought process or

choice in migrating north. The urge to migrate is born into them. Due

to, what we will call for scientific reasons, the Taco Effect; a burst in

Mexican population during the early 1950’s caused a great population

problem. Due to a high number of people in any certain area, the

Mexicans needed to migrate. The only direction where the population

density was significantly less was north. This is similar to eating a taco.

When you bite into the taco, you cause all the contents of the taco to

be bound together. This build up of taco stuff causes the filling to seek

a way out into a less dense space, this being the other end of the taco.

The open end of the taco always spills out taco stuff while eating it.

This is a direct relation to the buildup of Mexicans in the 50’s and early

60’s. The open end of the taco was north for early Mexican

immigrants.

With such a high amount of confusion and density, the ability to

locate north was not easily attained. These distressed Mexicans

devised a series of rituals and practices to make their bodies naturally

feel the northern direction and desire to proceed in that direction. This

was accomplished by tuning their bodies to recognize earth’s magnetic

field. Once Mexicans developed this ability, they were able to pass it on

to their offspring. Over time, the magnetic tuning and northern drive

was passed on genetically, similar to how birds migrate south. This

ability did solve the Mexican population density problem, but forever

engrained this habit into the average Mexican. They continue today,

crossing the border to proceed north following the magnetic field. So

much time has passed since the original purpose for this movement;

no Mexican can truly describe the reason why he crossed the border.

We have devised a plan to not only prevent fence hopping, but

cause the Mexicans currently living in the United States to go back to

Mexico. By using the modern technology of electro-magnetism, a

system can be created to permanently switch the orientation of North

and South poles. A team, appropriately named, “Pole Dancers,” will

place enormous electro magnets in very deep holes dug in strategic

locations across the states. These holes will be dug in California,

Colorado, Missouri, Indiana, and West Virginia. This will affectively make

an imaginary straight horizontal line across the United States with each

approximately 800 miles apart. According to Scientific research done

by a fourth party, If the super powerful electro magnets are activated

at the same time across the U.S., the orientation of the north and

south poles will at first be in a state of disarray, but will come to settle

the exact opposite to their original orientation.

With this flip complete, we will all reverse our compasses and

there will never be any more border crossings done by Mexicans. This

will also remove every Mexican currently residing in the United States.

This will in turn give jobs back to Americans and completely resolve our

economic troubles.

possible suspects include the famed yet recently irre-sponsive Dr. Victor Frank-enstein. While the ties are not quite clear the family is suspicious of the Dr. strange behavior in recent time.

Justine Moritz was hanged yesterday for suspected murder. The authorities have not released any fur-ther information due to suspected foul play in evi-dence from the murder scene. Moritz was the

main suspect and due to the severity of the crime it was taken care of quite quickly. Unfortunately, the authorities have admitted that it is possible that Justine did not commit the murder. The police mainly came to this assumption due to persistent convinc-ing from the Frankenstein family. The Frankenstein’s conclude that there is no way possible that Justine could have committed the murder. Authorities, how-ever can not ignore the hard evidence.

The Frankenstein family continues to conclude that they have accountability for Justine’s location at the time of the murder. Other

Execution of the wrong person?

Hanged For Suspected Murder

Known Evidence

♦ A locket owned by the victim was found on Moritz

♦ Frankenstein Family does not name Justine as their main suspect

♦ Dr. Victor Frankenstein has been un-accounted for several weeks.

2-24-09 EDITION 6

The Hanging of Justine Moritz

Caused an Uproar In the Frankenstein

Family

Further Investigation Tomorrow will begin a thorough investigation of several facts which include the interviewing of several suspects of the murder. Authorities will also look into the way which the victim was killed.

In Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, Victor Frankenstein is ordered by his own creation to produce another monster as the creature’s partner. Victor does not want to comply with this order because he is too overwhelmed by his morals and concern for mankind. However, after the monster reasons with him earnestly and threatens his life in retrospect; Victor decides to comply with this order. I believe Victor makes the right decision in destroying the female creature. He comes to his senses and realizes there are too many unknown factors. How can two evils be better than one? Despite the pleading and intimidation from the monster, he refuses to commit another atrocity. Regardless of the pressure he was under from the monster Victor made his final decision in the destruction of the female. This makes Victor a hero despite his flaws.

The Lady of Shalott

An Analysis of Theme in “Ulysses” by Alfred Tennyson