Dialectical Journals 8-11

I chose a picture of a laughing person because during Chapter 8, it speaks of how the troops kept making such crude jokes that kept even Leonidas on his knees laughing.

Chapter 8, 10/30/08
"The sight of his native Hellas being reduced by the overmastering numbers of the imperial forces caused the man severe distress and seemed to fire his will to commit to record as much of his tale as he could, as expeditiously as possible."
~Page 65

I chose to write about this quote because I really thought about it after reading the chapter. I was just imagining how distressed the man had to have been in order to feel obligated to record the tale of the battle. But at the same time I made a connection to this quote. When I first started playing Halo 3, I really wanted to write down every even that happened in game because the story was just so enveloping, I never wanted to forget it. Because of this, I led to writing an epic about it when the assignment arose. I think this connection helped me feel how he was feeling during this time and the obligation to write down all the events that transpired.

Chapter 9, 10/30/08
"A spasm of the lungs seized Alexandros; his throat constricted, he began to choke. My punch hesitated. A three-foot switch burned my back. 'Hit him!' I obeyed; Alexandros dropped to one knee. His lungs had frozen, he was helpless. 'Pound him, you whore's son!' a voice shouted from behind me. 'Finish him!'"
~Page 82

I chose this quote because this one of the quotes that I literally reacted to. When I put my book down to write this quote into my blog, I found I was actually gripping the sides of my book extremely hard, hard enough to make my fingertips white. I just felt such a power from this quote, a voice yelling Finish him! in the background. A choice between saving a friend or becoming a warrior. This quote made me feel very mixed inside. It made me think about what would I do if I was faced with this same situation. How would I react? What would I do? Would I kill my friend and become a warrior? Or risk exile and then take my own life after sparring his? This quote just made me think about a lot of things.

Chapter 10, 10/30/08
"The mind plays tricks in conditions of such extremity. I cannot tell how much I spoke aloud to Alexandros over the succeeding hours and how much simply swam before memory's eye as we labored endlessly toward the shore that refused to come closer."
~Page 91

I chose this quote because I can make a direct connection to this quote. I know what he is talking about, the sense of paranoia that makes your mind fall into chaos before confronted with an extreme situation. I get this every time I go paintballing or am at the gold medal bout during an important tournament. I know exactly how he is feeling right now because of these real life experiences. I think this helped me picture the boat, and Alexandros trying to comfort him, while they were riding to the shore.

Dialectical Journals

Can you guess what this is? I'll give you a hint, it's Greek. Still don't know what it is? Well it's written on the letter. It's called a Lambda, or a lower case Alpha. According to page 15, Onaximandros argues that all Spartan shields carry this symbol to represent their country, Lakedaemon. I chose it because it represents how proud the Spartans are to fight for their country. It also shows that they are very courageous and noble to fight in battle with one another. I think that this is like everyone in the United States wearing a United States pin, a flag. It shows that even though we are 50 states and many citys and towns in between, we are all one country and are united against anything that threatens us.


Chapter 4, 10/26/08
"This is how I learned then: There is always fire."
~Page 21

I just thought that this was a very powerful quote to start a chapter off with. I felt a lot of power coming from this quote and what it means. I think that to this boy, it means that he is finally learning what the real world is like. I think that when he watched the drills that his father and many other fathers did, he thought that they were just for fun. But now since he has been exposed to this killing and death and battle, he knows what it means to be a warrior and what a war is all about. I also made a connection to this quote and the title, Gates of Fire. Now that I have read this quote, I think that fire will be a recurring symbol that will follow this boy throughout this book. Thermopylae means Gates of Fire in Greek, but that is only because of the hot springs that surround the landscape. The fire the author talks about now is fire of death and battle. I like how he combines literal fire with the philosophical fire he talks about in the title of the book.

Chapter 5, 10/26/08
"Two summers later subsequent to this incident, in Lakedaemon, I witnessed a different kind of ordeal: a Spartan boy beaten to death by his drill instructors."
~Page 32

This goes back to one of my first quotes about how brutal the kids were trained when they went though the agoge. I am 14 right now and I cannot imagine the things that the Spartan boys went through when they were training to be a Spartan warrior. When I read things like this it makes my nuisances of today seem petty and small, such as when a piece of technology fails to work for me. I also chose this quote because it really struck me in the core. Words fail me when I try to think about describing what those poor kids went through just to become a Spartan warrior and fight for their country. Even army training programs today don't take in 13 year old boys and whip and even kill them. They don't even kill the recruits that do join the army. This quote just really woke me up to what a part of Spartan civilization is like.

Chapter 6, 10/26/08
"A man without a city is not a man. He is a shadow, a shell, a joke and a mockery."
~Page 39

This is another quote that I felt just had a lot of power. I think that this really shows Bruxieus' emotions during the speech that he gives. I chose this quote though because it really dives deep down into the ego and dignity of what it means to be a Spartan warrior, at least that is what I think this quote means deep down. It shows that without his companions or fellow warriors, a Spartan warrior is nothing. I also thought of the idiom "It takes a village to raise a child" when I read this quote. I connected that quote with this one because even though a child has one pair of parents, his/her friends will contribute to his/her personality and how they act.

Political Blog Post

Well, I chose a topic that concerns everyone no matter what party they are from, be it Republican, Democrat, Green, or Independent. I have chosen to write about the voting age. There is much controversy over what the legal voting age should be. Some say that 16 year olds could handle voting for themselves, as they a large percentage already do their own income taxes and have a job. Others say that 16 year olds are too young, some even say that 18 is too young, defending their decision by saying that they are still kids and they will only vote for the person that their parents want them to vote for.

I personally think that 16 year olds should be allowed to vote, if they are paying income tax, shouldn't they be able to vote on what that tax money is used for? Yes there is the obvious argument that 16 year olds are too young, which is why I don't think that all 16 year olds should be allowed to vote. I think that 16 year olds should have to complete a test that shows that they know why they are voting for a certain person, proving they are competent enough to vote. If they pass the test, than they should be registered votes. But as a 14 year old right now, I feel more than capable of voting for the person that I think would make the best decisions for this country.

But then there are the groups that say even 18 is too young. They think that kids are too immature, thinking about driving a fast car, or getting new shoes or a new outfit. A lot of people think that young people at that age have a clouded mind and do not know who or what to vote for. Another argument that they put out is that a very large percentage of young people are democrats, which would in turn weight elections toward the democratic candidate. But the problem with these theories is that it is a generalization of the population. There are 18 year olds that are much more mature for fast cars or flashy outfits. Another problem with the theory is that even though there are many young democrats, the life expectancy is much higher than it used to be. This means that the population of the older, more senior republicans is higher than what it used to be.

All in all, I think that 16 year olds should be allowed to vote. But in order to register to vote, they must prove that they are competent enough to vote, such as listing some reasons as why they are voting for who they chose, or why they are for/against proposition they are voting for.

Scott Rodgers

This is a picture of Scott Rodgers (he is the fencer near us). I like this picture not only for its fencing aspect (I'm a fencing nerd, I know), but because of just the moral aspect. This shows how far people can go if they set their mind to it. Despite a huge loss of mobility in both of his legs, Scott has been to the paralympics 3 times. Another reason I like this picture is because the way this picture was taken. It was taken in the middle of parry, making this a very cool action shot. I also like the way the photographer integrated all the colors into the shot. The black background complements the white uniforms of the fencers.

Hero Blurb

Just because he gave me one lesson doesn't make him a hero. Ashok Pathi is my hero because of all the encouragement and help that he gives me to become the best sabreist that I can be. On or off the strip, I respect Ashok because of the amazing friend he is to me. He is my sabre teacher.

Preview, Predict, Code

III. Code
1. How accurate were your predictions?
My predictions were very accurate because I have read this book before. I kind of knew what was going to happen so I predicted the right things.

2. Which predictions were very accurate? Describe.
My predictions about what was going to happen to Lily and Rosaleen were very accurate. I predicted that they would both end up helping August and her sisters in the honey business. I described how Lily would help August and learn about bees during their stay with them.

3. Which predictions were less accurate? What were the differences between what you predicted and what actually happened?
None of my predictions were less accurate because I had just recently finished reading this book in the 8th grade year so the story was pretty fresh in my mind.

My Weekend

This weekend I went to wack some people in a fencing tournament.  I had a lot of fun fencing my favorite weapon sabre.  After fencing for infinite hours, the ref finally called the gold medal bout.  I was sweating so strenuously, I felt like slurping a huge water bottle.  My final bout was brimming with pressure from both my coaches.  After fencing for a few minutes, I had finally won the first place medal.  Finally I left the funny smelling fencing center with a smile on my face.

My whole weekend was consumed wacking people at the 3 weapon tournament.  The first day was spent fencing fifteen other fencers for the Junior (20 and under) tournament.  The second day was spent fencing beating 20 other fencers up at the Y14 (14 and under) tournament.  It was a lot of fun fencing for the whole weekend.  I had a great time at the San Diego Fencing Center, located in Escondido.  When you fence for a long time such as I, you make friends with a lot of people that you regularly see at tournaments.  It was awesome seeing such friends at this tournament.