Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Best Blogs
I looked through all the blogs and rated them on overall appearance (30pts), completeness (20pts), solid writing (20pts), and the images and sources used (10pts). I also chose my own criterion from which to rate the blogs, and that was if the colors chosen and pictures used created a nice effect (20pts). Here are the top three blogs:
1. Danielle Ostendorf 100 pts
2. Jenita Teachout 98 pts
1. Danielle Ostendorf 100 pts
- Appearance was great!
- It looks like she had put quite a bit of effort into it.
- All of the posts were there.
- The text was thorough and complete.
2. Jenita Teachout 98 pts
- Very well organized
- Easy to read
- Neat appearance/everything was included
- I really liked how he took out all of the mess along the edges of his blog. It made it look a lot neater.
- All of the posts seemed to be there
- The color scheme was nice
- May be lacking some images, but overall it wasn't a negative effect.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
All is Quiet on the Western Front
On Monday, we began to discuss All is Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. Our discussion was fruitful, although maybe a little quiet at times. There were quite a few ideas presented in the book that we discussed in class that perked my interest quite a bit.
To start out the discussion, we talked about Himmelstoss and how he abused his power in the military. He is a postman by trade, however with the war, he has found a way to use power. As he trained the recruits, he would make them do ridiculous training methods that didn't help much with the war, such as marching around in circles. That was where he found he had power.
We also dicussed the relationship between World War I and World War II and how that affected German culture and lifestyle in an enormous way. Without WWI, there wouldn't be WWII. The book describes WWI and how this war caused a lost generation. It wasn't about the guns, or the deaths, or the people, although they were present. Erich is trying to show us how that generation is lost. They were students, then they were soldiers, and after the war they didn't know where to go or what to do. The only thing they know is how to be soldiers. This lost generation created people with neither identity nor self-esteem. This, along with the poor economy created by the Treaty of Versaille restrictions on Germany, allowed Hilter to come to power. People were looking for someone to identify with and someone to boost their self-esteem and Hilter provided just that.
I've always wondered how that can happen. How can a whole group of people so easily bite into what Hitler preached? But, this explains it so much better for me and I now feel like I can understand what happened. We watched one video in high school about a teacher who tried to show this. He got the students to do what Hitler did: to follow one guy blindly. It got so bad that students started hurting other students in name of that group. The principal started telling the teacher that it needed to stop so the teacher called a meeting with the group and told them that their leader was going to speak there. He then showed a clip of Hitler and explained to the students the relationship between their group and the Nazis. I kind of understood how that worked after that, but I still had questions. After reading this book and discussing how this war related to WWII, I can understand. When someone doesn't know who to identify with, it's easy to go with someone who will boost your self-esteem as well as friends.
This also relates to our discussion on what happens when we lose or identity. We talked about how some people turn to suicide, drugs, or alcohol. We also talked about a more positive thing to turn to such as a religion or a sports group or even starting a new business. Everyone needs something to belong to.
This also shows a problem Germany has had. In the past 100 years, they have bounced around so much that they don't really have anyone to identify with. They started as Prussians, then after WWI they were part of a democracy; then was the Hilter regime, then the Berlin Wall and the country was split. Then the Wall fell and a full Germany, as we know it today, was created. So, Germany has really been around for only 20-21 years. They are trying to build a country that they can identify with strongly.
This discussion has really made me understand Germany a whole lot better. I also can understand both WWI and WWII so much more. It's very important for us to remember and study the different wars, so we can learn for the future.
To start out the discussion, we talked about Himmelstoss and how he abused his power in the military. He is a postman by trade, however with the war, he has found a way to use power. As he trained the recruits, he would make them do ridiculous training methods that didn't help much with the war, such as marching around in circles. That was where he found he had power.
We also dicussed the relationship between World War I and World War II and how that affected German culture and lifestyle in an enormous way. Without WWI, there wouldn't be WWII. The book describes WWI and how this war caused a lost generation. It wasn't about the guns, or the deaths, or the people, although they were present. Erich is trying to show us how that generation is lost. They were students, then they were soldiers, and after the war they didn't know where to go or what to do. The only thing they know is how to be soldiers. This lost generation created people with neither identity nor self-esteem. This, along with the poor economy created by the Treaty of Versaille restrictions on Germany, allowed Hilter to come to power. People were looking for someone to identify with and someone to boost their self-esteem and Hilter provided just that.
I've always wondered how that can happen. How can a whole group of people so easily bite into what Hitler preached? But, this explains it so much better for me and I now feel like I can understand what happened. We watched one video in high school about a teacher who tried to show this. He got the students to do what Hitler did: to follow one guy blindly. It got so bad that students started hurting other students in name of that group. The principal started telling the teacher that it needed to stop so the teacher called a meeting with the group and told them that their leader was going to speak there. He then showed a clip of Hitler and explained to the students the relationship between their group and the Nazis. I kind of understood how that worked after that, but I still had questions. After reading this book and discussing how this war related to WWII, I can understand. When someone doesn't know who to identify with, it's easy to go with someone who will boost your self-esteem as well as friends.
This also relates to our discussion on what happens when we lose or identity. We talked about how some people turn to suicide, drugs, or alcohol. We also talked about a more positive thing to turn to such as a religion or a sports group or even starting a new business. Everyone needs something to belong to.
This also shows a problem Germany has had. In the past 100 years, they have bounced around so much that they don't really have anyone to identify with. They started as Prussians, then after WWI they were part of a democracy; then was the Hilter regime, then the Berlin Wall and the country was split. Then the Wall fell and a full Germany, as we know it today, was created. So, Germany has really been around for only 20-21 years. They are trying to build a country that they can identify with strongly.
This discussion has really made me understand Germany a whole lot better. I also can understand both WWI and WWII so much more. It's very important for us to remember and study the different wars, so we can learn for the future.
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