1/8 of High School Complete :)

With the first half of quarter one of my freshman year approaching, I realize the many differences between Middle School and High School. My favorite part of high school so far is the independence. We are so independent here and it makes me feel much less pressured. There are free's, you can go out for lunch, you can pick all of your classes, and teachers give you much more independence. I also like how all of the desicions we make are our choice. No teacher or anyone is telling you what you can and can't wear, act like, eat, who to be friends with, or any restrictions in personal regards. With that being said, while all of the desicions you make are your choice, any mistakes are as well. I think the hardest part is the huge increase in responsibility.  There is twice (or more) the amount of homework, tests, projects, and quizzes. The stress level increases a crazy amount, but again, that all goes back to your choices to take those classes.  Although the classes are hard, I think the teachers are very understanding. I like high school a lot so far, and I plan on continuing to keep learning and trying my hardest.

What is God really like?

After reading Genesis over the past few days, viewing God as a main character in the story has made my pre existing thoughts about him slightly change. I always had thought God was a religious figure who was worshipped and admired for always doing the right thing and being a positive role model. After reading Genesis, I realize this is not so true. His actions show hostile, unreasonable, and harsh behavior.  In the story, God wipes out everything on the Earth, aside from Noah, his family, and some animals. This, in my opinion, was not the right thing to do. No matter how bad behaved, annoying, or disrespectful people may be, the right thing is not just to kill them all. In addition, I always thought God was forgiving.  He doesn't seem very forgiving in Genesis. Although he makes a covenent with Adam and says he will never kill mankind again, this is out of regret and realization, not forgiveness. When God acts generously toward Noah at the end of this story by telling him that all the animals were his food and the plants were his too, this is the God that I previously thought of.  Overall, I enjoyed this assignment because it helped me come to the realization that God, among many other characters, may not be who we originally perceive him as.  This assignment has made me come to the conclusion that no one, not even God, is perfect.

Hareskin, Alaska Flood Story

The Flood story in Gilgamesh is very similar and very different to the Flood story of Hareskin, Alaska.  In the Alaska Flood story, a god or goddess does not tell Kunyan about theFlood, he is very wise so he sensed it.  In Uta-napishti’s story in Gilgamesh, the god Ea warns Uta-napishti about the Flood. Also, Kunyan warns people about the upcoming Flood whereas in the Uta-napishti’s story, he doesn’t warn anybody.  Although Kunyan warns people about the Flood, no one listens to him so he goes on the boat alone whereas in Uta-napishti’s story, he brings his wife.  In both stories, the characters bring a pair of each animal onto the boat that they build to be protected from the Flood. In addition, in both stories, all of the people and animals on the boats survive the Flood.  However, in the Alaska Flood story, Kunyan sends a musk-rat to dive to the bottom of the waters to find land and Uta-napishti sends birds. The Flood in Uta-napishti’s story faded away by the seventh day but in Kunyan’s story, the bittern, a bird similar to a heron, swallowed the remaining water. In addition to these stories, many other cultural Flood stories contain some of the same events.

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#NorthAmerica

http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=74372

Genisis- Who is to blame for the eviction of Eden?

After reading Genisis 1-3, I think that it's the serpents fault for the eviction of Eden, despite all of the beliefs that it is Adam and Eve's fault. I believe this because the woman, Eve would have never eaten the fruit unless the serpent told her that she would be God-like if she ate it. The serpent says, "For God knows that if you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Because of this, Eve eats the fruit in hopes of becoming knowledgeable of knowing the good apart from the evil like God, and gives some of it to Adam as well. In addition, the serpent says, "You will surely not die." Eve eats the fruit because the Serpent tells her that she will not die if she eats it. I also think that if Adam knew that it was the fruit he was forbidden to eat, he wouldn't have eaten it. Since Eden gave it to him because the serpent told her it was okay to eat, she gave it to Adam not worried about God getting angry. Although Eve listened to the serpent, he did trick her.  Without the serpent, Eve nor adam would have eaten the fruit.

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:003.Adam_and_Eve_Are_Driven_out_of_Eden.jpg

Introducing Me

I'm Gabby Fries, a 9th grade student at Roslyn High School, and this is my first blog post!!! My English teacher, Mr. Reiff (Reiff if your reading this, hi :) is having us make a blog with entries of projects and assignments we do over the year.  I think this project is really cool because at the end of the year I can look back on all of the projects we did. Also, next year and years to follow that I can use the blog to continue a reflection journal of my English projects.  This blog will be an expression of me through my projects, assignments, and more!!! Thanks for reading my blog <3