^9th blog of this project 12-07-14

When I was reading the Great Gatsby, I was wondering: Why do we not hear at all from the lower class of people? I am talking about all the people that we heard about in American Studies, all the people who live in those building complexes who were mainly immigrants to America. I came to the semi-conclusion that had something to do with what The Great Gatsby is also know for, The Great American Novel. What I am trying to say is that maybe the lower class is under represented because why would something that represents America what to let people know about all the slums all the bad stuff about America. That would just not make sense. Try to see the Great Gatsby as a commercial for America. The usual commercial would never name all the bad things about the product, which in this case is a country.  So I came to the conclusion that Mr. Fitzgerald did not mention the underclass on purpose he only wanted to let people know about the all the good times you could have in America. Which I think is also the reason for the idea of 1 party for each chapter. I want to let people know that I have only read to the fifth chapter so I do not know if this class of people is mentioned later on in the novel. 

8^th blog of this project 11-15-14

The question that i want to answer is: What would you do if you were in the same situation as Luther Standing Bear? And I encourage everyone who is reading this to respond to the same question. I think that I would have been somewhat silent; I have been pushed into situation that were similar to this and have seen myself respond in the way of just being silent. What is happening is that you have been taken away from your family that you lived with through your entire life, and all of a sudden you get taken away from them. During your transportation to your boarding school, people were laughing at you, grown up people laughing at you being a little kid. I think these are the times were you really find out which people are born leaders; they will take it upon themselves to protect the rest of the group.  Another question that I think is important to answer is if you would be rebellious or just defeated. I think personally that I would still talk the language that I was born and raised with. I have the same point of view in that I think that culture dies of if it is not used. It would be all the things that you grew up as seeing as something you could always relate to that all of a sudden just get stolen from you. You do not have a father figure that you can ask advice from; you do not have your mother that you can ask if you need some help. All get taken from you and you are given new clothes. A new name and basically a completely new “American” identity.

7^th blog of this project 10-26-14

This past week in one of Mr. Hoffman’s classes he told us that Abraham Lincoln was also known as “The Rail-Splitter after he told us this he also told us that, that was because that was his profession before becoming a president. Which to me was totally new, I did not know this. I Denmark we once had a really good president whose job before becoming a president was being a cigar roller. This is just a couple of stories about how everything is possible. This to me is why a democracy is the only way to lead a country. Just having the opportunity to come from nothing to something that big. This reminds me that even though you might not be doing well in school or have problems at home, there will always be more chances. Tomorrow I have to re-take the American studies test because I got a 12 (Very bad grade); even though I got a bad grade Mr. Hoffman is letting me re-take it. I will probably not do any better, but to me just having Mr. Hoffman give me the opportunity to re-take it just makes me feel good, because that is what it is all about. Just keep on trying.

Which is what my point of this blog is, just to tell people that even though they make mistakes they can always rise again. You learn from your mistakes, so to all the people who are just dedicating their entire life to getting good grades, I just want to say: Live life!

6^th Blog of this project 10-19-14

Hello world, so this week we got an old law made in Mississippi, about how new freed slaves also had laws that they had to obey. So we read the text, and to me it seemed like a descent laws, but Mr. Hoffman really changed my point of view after telling us how these laws were manipulated by white people so that they could still have something similar to slaves. I got really kind of scared because here I was as a citizen that taught this law made sense, but after hearing Mr. Hoffman I totally changed. Like I would think that the laws would be made so that I, a student in 10 grade would be able to understand, it and most important trust it.  I also want to point out to everyone that this was just an example and this did not only happen in Mississippi. So that is why I made the question I made.

 So I have a question for the rest of the world, and it is: we saw how they manipulated the laws then, do you think it is in any way possible to do something like that with the laws we have now, in modern day America?

^5th Blog of this project 10-12-14

So this week, Mr. Hoffman introduced us to the concept of having the Team Timeline, which is an idea, that has groups of three people, chose 3 events that Mr. Hoffman has told us about in class, and then tell some more about them. I must say that I am really happy and excited about it. Because i think that it is really going to help me, especially when it comes to studying for tests or quizzes. I also think it is really cool, because that means that I will have the same information about one thing that everyone else has. But one thing that I would like to point out is that maybe some people might overdo it and give way to many facts, this is supposed to be something that everyone gets and does not get confused by. Now it’s just a question of what events me and my groups get. That is another thing that I also saw as a problem, that maybe you have to write a bunch about an event, that to you might be really hard to write, if it has sentimental value to you. Have a good day.  

4^th Blog of this project 10-05-14

Hello, so this week, we have gotten to read the American text of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving. After reading just a bit of it i was set into the mood of the story. And through the entire reading all i wanted to do was to actually go to this area, because I want to see if all the descriptions are true. That is one of my biggest life goals, to travel around a lot of the world. So every time i read something that has such a good description, i just really want to go to the spot that was described. This also sounds like a very good place to farm, just the way it was described. This is reinforcement of what a lot of Dutch and Danish farmers did when they arrived to America, they would always pick the best farming spots, because they were used to the really bad dirt that was only good for growing potatoes and other vegetables. So I think that is why this Dutch settlement to me sounds like it is in a farming area, plus Dutch people are known for being good farmers. 

3rd blog entry

So what we did in one of our QARE in this past week was discuss if you can over analyze a text. To me this is a very interesting question because, we came to the conclusion that it really all depended on what kind of person you are, because some people might think that one thing is over analyzing it, and others might not. Just purely depend on who you are, if you are in a very depressed time of your life or just are depressed in general; you might have another opinion if you never have downs. After this interesting conversation I thought about myself as a person, do I see myself as the kind that over analyses things or am I the kind of person that doesn’t. I came to the conclusion that just the way I am, I take things the way they come, saying this I came to the conclusion that I am as a person very relaxed, I would probably never over analyze anything. Just because that’s not in my nature. Other people might always want to analyze things that to me are good the way they are. I don’t know, just like try to think about that for a minute, you can write your response in the comments below on what kind of person you think you are? have a good night! 

2. Blog entry    09-14-14     Mr. Hoffman      Notes on the State of Virginia       Max Henry Madsen

2^nd Blog of this project 09-21-14

So for me this project has just gotten a lot more interesting because this is going to be seen as I kind of safe haven for me. So to start this thing of I will begin with giving you my thoughts of how class was, the other day we redid the QARE the discussion. Witch now went a whole lot better, since we all stayed on topic, though I think in the longer run we should try not to stay ON the topic that much, because that limits our discussion to a very small topic. Though these are my thoughts I think it went well in this discussion. I just wanted to give you guys a quick update on what was going on in class. Alright so have a good day. 

1. Blog entry    09-14-14     Mr. Hoffman      Notes on the State of Virginia       Max Henry Madsen

Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia.
Mr. Jefferson has a very intersting view on how blacks are, and how they should be treated. He mentions how diffrent black people are to the white. For example he names that they have a diffrent body odor. with could just be beacuse they sweat more than what mr. Jefferson was used to with his normal White, english  gentlemenly friends. He mentions that all of these things have been scientificly  proven, but by who? this could be something anyone could have said. And what has most likely happend was that some ,possible slave owner, of a scientist, came up with it. what i am trying to get at, is that this was how the world saw slaves. the did not see them as Men or women, the saw them as utilities. We talked about this in class about how "all men are equal" this is an obviouls exapmle of how Slaves were not seen as being normal people.  They were not "Men" they did not have the right to vote, or any other thing that All men had right to.
So i dont think that there in anyway shape of form was ever a scientist that acualy proved this. I just think this was the way of seing tings back then. i do not blame them, this was the norm, this was a way to show that you had prestige. Today it might be the same as having dogs, maby in a millions years they will look back at us and call us horrible people beacuse we kept dogs in captive. This was a very long train of thoughts, but i hope you understand what i am trying to say.

Hello world, this is going to be my first Blog entry. This is a school blog that i have to make for my American studies class. I will be talking about the diffrent text that i have read for class and i will try to reflect on my ideas. So i hope you guys will enjoy it. - Max Henry Madsen