From my Hometown in Italy to the Vast America

To some people’s surprise, I wasn’t born in Portland. To say the truth, I wasn’t born anywhere in America. Both my siblings were, but I wasn’t. I moved here, when I was 40 days old. My hometown is Parma, Italy. None of my family lives there, they all live in other parts of northern Italy, so I rarely visit my true hometown.

The Microscope

The microscope was invented around 1590. Zaccharias Janssen and his son Hans Janssen were two dutch eyeglass makers in 1590 and after experimenting with multiple lenses they found that the objects were getting bigger.

(In 1284 an Italian inventor named Salvino D'Armate invented the first wearable eyeglasses.)

In 1665 a English physicist by the name of Robert Hooke looked through a microscope lens and he saw a group of cells. In 1664 Anton van Leeuwenhoek built a simple microscope with only one lens. It was built to examine blood, yeast, insects, and other small things.

In the 18th century the microscope was popular to scientists. Lenses combining two types of glass which reduced the chromatic effect. in 1830 Joseph Jackson Lister came up with the chromatic effect he proved that several weak lenses could be put together together at certain distances and it gives a good magnification without blurring the image.

13(1776)

January 26, 1776

Dear Diary,

Today was a very slow day. Last night I dreamed of the ball. The moonlight revealed through the shaped walls. Couples dancing about, with dresses laced with gold. I was so happy in my dream I forgot to wake up! Mother had to come in and wake me. And boy she was not happy about that. We did not have food for breakfast, so I had to add shopping onto my chores for today. I braided my hair into two long braids, using string to tie them at the ends, and put my dress on. The one with a blue ribbon around the waist. Mother had gotten it for me a few years ago, but it was my only dress.

Elsa was especially happy this morning. I guess she had had good dreams too. She played with Ann, her doll, who was now held together with a corn husk.    

After I got Elsa ready, I grabbed my woven basket and headed to the market. I said hello to Marty the baker, and picked out a small loaf of bread for the week. Marty is a very nice man. He gave the bread to me for no charge. I guess he had heard about Nina.

My sister Nina was nine years old when she caught the Black Death. It is a plague that has been going around town. When she fell ill, my mother spent all our savings trying to save her. That was last Tuesday. Mother had kept quiet about it, but I guess word had gotten around. I thanked Marty, choose a few apples and oranges from Penny, a farmer, and headed home.

Tommy ran out to me as I arrived. He tugged on my shirt and told me that Mother had gone to work.

I fixed them some lunch, and went to tidy the house. Which wasn’t very hard. A three room house is not very big. I finished my book and took a nap. I woke up to a crash. Elsa and Tommy had been playing and knocked some old china over.  I was so dead. I cleaned the mess up, and tried to piece it back together, but it was no use. I sent them to the room we all shared. When mother got home I told her what had happened. I felt terrible about it. Her face showed everything. I could do nothing to change what had happened. My dreams had been overthrown by my guilt. I carried myself, supper less, to my room, where Elsa and Tommy were already asleep. I slipped into the bed and looked out the window. Carriages passed, the horses’ trot echoing on the walls. Party goers returning from the ball. Sigh.

January 26, 1776

Dear Diary,

Today was a wonderful day! The ball is tonight. Maybe I will find my prince charming. When Mira, our maid, woke me up, I could just feel the sun, shining through my curtains. I was so reluctant to get out of my warm, comfy bed, but Mira insisted. I changed out of my night gown, and into a loose skirt and a blouse. I added a jacket for the cold January air.

Breakfast was delightful. Laura and the rest of the cooks made biscuits with a lovely jam on the side. Father talked about the ball, telling mother and I about all the young gentlemen that were attending.

After breakfast I headed to town. The merchants were yelling out their sales, trying to top each other. Girls from lower class families scavenged the market, swiping apples and pears. I saw one girl steal a whole loaf of bread. The nerve of some people! Her hair was in tangles, and her dress was a few sized to small. Not that there was much to see. Her frail body looked like it could snap just like that. I had gained a few pounds recently, so mother had me put on a diet.

When I returned home Laura had made lunch, but I was too excited to eat. The ball was only a couple hours away!  I sat down to do my makeup while Mira did my hair. A lovely bun. Mother had gotten my dress last week. It had pink bows at the ends, and puffed sleeves.

After what felt like forever, our carriage arrived. The chauffeur helped me up. The ride was bumpy, but at the sight of the ballroom all my sickness was washed away.

The ball was marvelous. Young lads danced around, escorting ladies to the dance floor. I danced, and danced, and danced. Father would be so happy. Afterwards I hopped back onto the carriage and left the glorious ball behind me. The sky was dark, but a thousand little stars lit the pathway. A beautiful view. Sigh.

The Invention of the Telephone

What is something we use everyday? What is the one thing we cannot live without? If your answers were your phone, you're not alone. Everyday we make calls, text our friends, check our social media, and all this is done from your phone. Many people probably don’t even know how this “Phone craze” all started. Some say it was when the IPhone was invented. Some say it was when the cell phone was invented, but if you go way back to the 1870s, you'll find that this phone craze was started by a genius inventor named Alexander Graham Bell.

Bell wasn’t the only one to come up with the brilliant idea of being able to call someone who was no where near you. In fact a man named Elisha Gray also had this brilliant idea. Both men independently created the very first phone, but Bell got his patented first.

The first telephone was very different than the amazing technology we have today. Alexander Bell first referred to it as the “Electrical speech machine”. The only thing it could do was make calls. No texting, no apps, no screen! This phone was a stationary phone, so it could not go wherever you go. You most likely have at least one of these in your house, but this one was very different.

Overall, the telephone was a fantastic invention that certainly influenced current technology and our day to day lives!
Bellis, Mary. "The History of the Telephone." About.com Inventors. About.com, 20 Dec. 2013. Web. 05 Mar. 2014.
"Invention of the Telephone." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 03 June 2014. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.

 

The Assassination Speech ZT

          
Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most courageous, inspiring, and determined people who fought for equal rights. His work was amazing, but other people helped him on his journey for black freedom. For example, Sojourner Truth, Nat Turner, and Harriet Tubman. These people influenced his truly moving speech the day before he was shot at 6:01 p.m. on April 4, 1968. Therefore these wonderful black men and women should have some recognition, as they helped Martin Luther King Jr.
             The “Assassination Speech”, is a very important piece of history, but he was not the only mastermind behind the speech and the movement. Sojourner Truth was in fact, the first black woman to win a case against a white man. Also, she delivered her most famous speech, Ain’t I a Woman, in 1851, at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. A couple of lines from her speech, “I want to say a few words about this matter. I am a women's rights. I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that?”Martin Luther learned about her in school, and that is how he found out about her and used her ideas.

      Nat Turner was another inspiration for Martin. Nat lead an african american slave rebellion in Virginia on August 21, 1831. Although he was sent to death trial and was hung, Virginia and other states changed a black right. The change, the white owners now had to be present at black worship services. Again, Martin Luther learned about him in school, and might have used his idea of a rebellion, but instead, a strike.
              Last, but not least, Harriet Tubman. She helped many slaves cross into free lands, and she was a spy for the Union. Also, she went into women’s suffrage, the fight for women’s right to vote. She ties into Martin Luther because of her courageous decisions to fight for equal rights, and freedom for all. Martin Luther spoke powerful words, his last speech for example, but none would be possible without his knowledge of the great people before him.
              Martin Luther King Jr., has always held a special place in my heart because of his actions for equal rights. I believe that we do share a similarity, the fire to fight for what's right. All people have it, some just have to dig deeper than others.

His last speech, given at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee:

The issue is injustice. The issue is the refusal of Memphis to be fair and honest in its dealings with its public servants, who happen to be sanitation workers. Now, we've got to keep attention on that. That's always the problem with a little violence. You know what happened the other day, and the press dealt only with the window-breaking. I read the articles. They very seldom got around to mentioning the fact that one thousand, three hundred sanitation workers are on strike, and that Memphis is not being fair to them... They didn't get around to that. Now we're going to march again, and we've got to march again, in order to put the issue where it is supposed to be -- and force everybody to see that there are thirteen hundred of God's children here suffering, sometimes going hungry, going through dark and dreary nights wondering how this thing is going to come out. That's the issue. And we've got to say to the nation: We know how it's coming out. For when people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.
Regarding the Civil Rights struggle, King said:
All we say to America is, "Be true to what you said on paper." If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand some of these illegal injunctions. Maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for rights. And so just as I said, we aren't going to let dogs or water hoses turn us around. We aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on.
Regarding economic boycotts, he said:
Now, we are poor people. Individually, we are poor when you compare us with white society in America. We are poor. Never stop and forget that collectively...the American Negro collectively is richer than most nations of the world. We have an annual income of more than thirty billion dollars a year, which is more than all of the exports of the United States, and more than the national budget of Canada. Did you know that? That's power right there, if we know how to pool it. We don't have to argue with anybody. We don't have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don't need any bricks and bottles. We don't need any Molotov cocktails. We just need to go around to these stores, and to these massive industries in our country, and say, "God sent us by here, to say to you that you're not treating his children right. And we've come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda fair treatment, where God's children are concerned. Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you.[1]
Toward the end of the speech, King refers to threats against his life and uses language that seems to foreshadow his impending death:
And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? ... Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't really matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live - a long life; longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Sources: http://history1900s.about.com/cs/martinlutherking/a/mlkassass.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27ve_Been_to_the_Mountaintop
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sojourner_Truth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Turner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nat_Turner.jpg
http://www.alcazaraudioworks.com/details/cd/sojourner.html
http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&tbo=d&biw=1441&bih=656&tbm=isch&tbnid=vq-mcO0XFTfh_M:&imgrefurl=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/09/14/GA2010091405721.html&docid=YeolaIhtmHlVlM&imgurl=http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/gallery/100914/GAL-10Sep14-5730/media/PHO-10Sep14-251897.jpg&w=913&h=1024&ei=VL74UPzHJO_DiwKYw4DYAQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=2&vpy=242&dur=73&hovh=238&hovw=212&tx=95&ty=120&sig=105400541573080848422&page=1&tbnh=127&tbnw=130&start=0&ndsp=31&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0,i:108

HARRIET TUBMAN

    HARRIET TUBMAN AND HER ROAD TO FREEDOM

Harriet Tubman did so many things to change the world, but her escape to freedom alone was incredible.

During Harriets childhood, she had 9 brothers and sisters, three of which, were sold to other slave owners. Through Harriet's childhood she had to work very hard. She had to look after babies while they were sleeping, and if they awoke, she was whipped. She also had to work in the fields. She had been a fighter all of her life and she rebelled against her masters constantly.

Harriet wanted to escape to freedom and she respected the other slaves that did as well. One day when she was working in the field, a slave was trying to escape. The guard asked her to help him pin the slave down, but she refused. The slave ran away and the man threw a 3 pound weight that Harriet said "broke her skull." After that day Harriet started having seizures and randomly went unconscious.

One night, Harriet and her two brothers, Ben and Moses, snuck out and ran into the woods. After running for a little while Ben had them stop. He told them that he was about to become a father, so the two brothers made Harriet go back to the house with them.

 Later, Harriet snuck off without her brothers, except this time there was no turning back. She had a reward of her capture of $100. She traveled along the UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. The Underground Railroad is a series of safe houses along the road to Pennsylvania. Harriet had to travel 90 miles on foot that took her between 5 days and 3 weeks. When she had to stay at a safe house for more than one night she pretended to work there as not to be caught.

When Harriet got to Pennsylvania she said it was like walking into heaven. She was finally free. After that, Harriet lived a good life of freedom. She still had her head traumas from her childhood though.

When Harriet was free, she went back to Maryland and helped other slaves to freedom. she made a giant footprint in the ending of slavery. After she was invited to be a special guest at churches, and statues, and buildings were made in honor of her.



Harriet Tubman was then known across the nation as a hero. A while later in 1912 Harriet was so old that she had to move into the very old folks home that was a commemoration to her. In 1913 the great Harriet Tubman died of pneumonia. Her last words to the people standing around her were "I go to prepare a place for you."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman
http://www.nyhistory.com/harriettubman/life.htm
http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/0history/hwny-tubman.html                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                       

Swan Lake

The Revolution of Swan Lake

By Gracie Rosenheim

            Swan Lake is one of the most well known ballets through out the world, and yet very little people know the history about it. In the late 1800s Poytr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed music for many famous ballets, Swan Lake being one of them. The music contained many different tempos and sounds, but the music still flowed beautifully throughout the theatre. Once the music was composed, the ballet was soon choreographed by Julius Reisingner. He choreographed a full four acts, adding up to a total of three hours. Every other act, he went from the castle, then to the lake, and then to the castle again, and finally ending the show at the lake where Odette, the white swan, dies.    

            In the first act, Prince Siegfried is celebrating his birthday with                    
his tutor, friends, and peasant people. Every one at the party is having a wonderful time until the Queen comes to the party, with four ladies in waiting. She gives him a wooden cross bow for a birthday present, and tells Prince Siegfried that he must marry one of the ladies in waiting. The prince doesn't agree with what his mother says, which makes her leave. As she is walking away, she tells him the he must choose a bride before the royal ball the following evening. Once she leaves, the party continues, and the peasants dance along with the waltz couples. Slowly the guests start leaving, until only Prince Siegfried and his friends are with him. They see a flock of swans flying over head, and decide to take the Prince's new cross bow out, and go hunting for the swans.
            When act two begins, the Prince has been separated by his                friends. He finds a clearing by a lake, and decides to stay there. As he is waiting, the flock of swans he saw earlier, lands nearby the lake. He aims his cross bow at one of the swans, but freezes up when it turns into a beautiful lady. At first, the lady is terrified that he will hurt her, but when he says that he won't, she tells him that her name is Odette, and she is the Swan Queen. She explains to him that she and the other swans have been cursed by an evil sorcerer Van Rothbart, to be swans by day, and humans at night. She tells him that the only way the curse can be broken, is if someone who has never loved anyone else before promises to love her forever. As the night passes on, Siegfried soon realizes how powerful love is, and how much he loves Odette. It soon becomes dawn, and Odette and the other ladies turn back into swans.
            In act three, the guests are arriving at the royal ball. The queen has invited six princesses for Prince Siegfried to dance with, and after the last dance, he must choose one of the princesses to be his bride. The Prince dances with each bride, but he had no interest in it, because his heart is still set on Odette. The queen insists for him to choose a bride, but they get distracted when two unknown guests appear at the party dressed in black. The guests turn out to be Von Rothbart who transformed himself into a more dignified looking person, and his daughter Odile who is disguised as Odette. Once the guests from Spain, Italy, Russia, and Hungary dance for the court, Odile tries to trick Siegfried into betraying Odette. A reflection of the real Odette is shown upon the window to warn him to not get tricked by Odile, but Siegfried is so spellbound by Odile, so he declares to the guests that he will marry Odile. Triumphantly, Van Rothbart and Odile show Siegfried his betrayal to Odette. In shock, the Prince runs out of the castle in search of Odette.
             In the last act, Siegfried returns to the lake during a terrible storm created by Van Rothbart. Siegfried searches for Odette through the storm, and finally finds her. He begs for her forgiveness, but although she forgives him, there is nothing that can be done. Odette will remain a swan forever. Odette's heart has been broken, she knows that she will be sad forever, so she decides to die.
             For almost two-hundred years Swan Lake has been performed through out the world. But why is it still so popular? It is such a popular ballet, because it's not like any other love story. Every love story ends with a Prince marrying a Princess, but Swan Lake is one of the only love stories where the love ends up to be forbidden.  Swan Lake shows that even if you can have anything in the world, you can't always have love.    



SITES: 

"Swan Lake." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Feb. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.
Swan Lake. 16 Feb. 2013. The Oregon Ballet Theatre's Swan Lake program. The Keller Auditorium, Portland, OR.
"Google." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.
"Criticaldance Ballet-Dance Magazine: Oregon Ballet Theatre Swan Lake Review."Criticaldance Ballet-Dance Magazine: Oregon Ballet Theatre Swan Lake Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.

The Tragic Story of Évariste Galois

"Ne pleure pas, Alfred ! J'ai besoin de tout mon courage pour mourir à vingt ans!" was the last thing Évariste Galois ever said in his short life. In English, this means, "Don't cry, Alfred! I need all my courage to die at twenty!" These words were spoken to Évariste's brother. Évariste was convinced he would die the next day. In fact, he stayed up all night the night before writing letters, trying to get his ideas out on paper before he perished. So, why was he so sure he would be killed?

Évariste Galois was born in October of 1811 in France. His parents were both highly educated, and his mother homeschooled him until he was 12. When he was 14, he began to take an interest in math. When he was 17, he tried to get into a difficult school, but he failed the oral examination because he did not give enough explanations. He went to another school instead, and the next year he started discovering things about the theory of polynomial equations, which are equations with more than one variable (x, y, z, etc). Unfortunately, in 1829 his father, who was a politician, committed suicide after a dispute with the priest. Afterwards, he tried to enter the same prestigious college again, and failed. He was definitely qualified, and no one knows for sure why he failed. Some say he grew exasperated, and threw something at the examiner, or the examiner couldn't understand how he was getting his answers. Still at the mediocre school, Évariste wrote a letter criticizing his school's director for locking the students in the school during a riot and put in it a magazine. Rather than be expelled, he quit school and joined the national guard. His unit was soon disbanded, though. Soon after, Évariste attended a party where he proposed a toast to the king while holding a dagger near his cup. This was taken as a threat to the king, so he was arrested, but released a couple months after. Then, he wore a uniform that he wasn't supposed to on a parade, and so was arrested again! Évariste kept developing his ideas while in prison, and he was released six months later.

About a month later, Évariste was going to a duel. The circumstances of this duel are uncertain, as there are no clear records of this moment. Some sources claim that the duel was about a woman who he fell in love with. She apparently told him of her life, and this may have caused him to provoke the duel on her behalf. The letters he wrote support this theory. Others say that it was an undercover police agent, or someone opposed to his political views. Whoever it was, Évariste knew he would die the next day.

So, what do people do when they think they're going to die the next day? Well, Évariste thought the answer was writing letters. Apparently, he spent the entire night before the duel writing. He wrote mostly to his friends, but he also sent a letter to a famous mathematician. They outlined his ideas about a new branch of math, which he called group theory. These same ideas had been rejected by the mathematician before, but Évariste knew that his ideas were important, and someone needed to have them before he perished. So, Évariste spent the night before his duel frantically scribbling down everything he could think of that he might have discovered. This begs the question, if someone is in a duel, should they get enough sleep, and maybe win the duel, or write down all their ideas in hopes that someone will decipher them and their life will not have been in vain?

As Évariste thought, he did lose the duel the next day, and was abandoned, wounded, in the dust. Someone found him and took him to a hospital, but he passed away the next day. Eventually, mathematicians looked into the letter he had sent them, and discovered that he had some amazing thoughts. They definitely regretted not taking him seriously when he was alive. In 1843 (11 years later!) Évariste's work was finally published. Évariste Galois had a short, but meaningful, life.





Picture:

http://selunec.deviantart.com/art/Evariste-Galois-189586719

Transitions|skating and life

Transitions in ice dance are almost the most important part of the entire dance. The way you skate, or skating skills, are key because if the judges just think that you have nice elements, or ‘moves’, as many people who don’t know skating call them, they obviously won’t respect your skating as much. The artistry of the movement, is all so important. The way a skater interprets the choreography is a skill that is vital in being able to tell a good skater from mediocre. Transitions are also very interesting in life. This could be from one home to the next, or even to a different ‘best friend’. For me, the hardest transition of all is from when I have been at a lively, difficult, and exciting competitions that are always so different, and then going back to school. It’s not that I don’t love school, because I do, but its just that it is not quite as emotionally amazing, maybe because I am now a little older, and have been doing it almost everyday for years.

At a skating competition, it is sort of scary, but so cool that I can’t even begin to explain. Everyone is walking around trying to look proud, while the judges all walk around as friends and you have to pretend to be happy to please the judges, because they want strong competitors to send out internationally. Also, you for the most part are happy, other than the fact that you can barely handle the crazy amount of nerves. All of the people you compete against are kind of like enemies until the end of competition.

After the 2013 US Nationals, I was so excited and everyone was telling me congrats, and supportive, kind things like this, and I swear, I could not wipe off the smile on my face. Though my event was sort of in the beginning of the week, it did not get boring. The next few days we had many seminars, events (breakfasts, team building etc.), and other skating to watch. It really was one of the best weeks of my life, because while hanging out with my skating friends whom I am very close to, I get to watch, and be a part of a world that I love. Finally, to top off the week, there was an exhibition with thousands of people watching. It was all of the US champions. It was a blast getting to work with all of the seniors (highest level), and freestylers that I don’t hang out with much. We said bye to all of our judges, and thanks, and bye to all of our friends that may have been enemies earlier that week.

As we leave to come home, I am glad because a new adventure was just finished, but sad to leave all of my friends, because I have so much in common with them, even if lots of them are much older. So I fall asleep with a little pain in my heart, but knowing that from here, it only gets better, as I remember from when a judge let me in on something amazing. I had been walking through the arena as I bumped into a technical specialist and a judge. The judge was eating ice cream, and told me that although it is not official who is in the ISP yet, that I was already being selected for an international competition, it just wasn’t clear which one yet. The ISP is the international selection pool, and that is what you get chosen from to compete at international competitions! I literally was speechless, other than saying thank you so much.

Hopefully she was being honest, because if she were, then in the end of this March, I will be told what international competition I will be sent to. Then in the summer, we will be given our Team USA jackets. This has been my short-term dream ever since I can remember, and it is finally here! Within any revolution that has ever been, there is always a dream. Behind everything great, there is always a dream. Dreams fuel the heart, which fuels the mind. Without dreams what would we be? The heartache still remains, but I know, there are always some skating shows to be skated, (we were in one about a week after nationals), and there are always competitions ahead, but mostly, there are always things to work on.

The Storming of the Bastille and the Estates

Everybody has, at some point in their lifetime, heard of the Battle of Waterloo, and the fight at Gettysburg during the Civil War. Have you, however, heard of the Storming of the Bastille, and of all of the brave citizens who dared defy the higher classes? Of the unfair system of social rank, or the Third Estate? To know more about these answers, we must first go back and learn what the Estates are.

The estates were sort of like social classes, with the third being the lowest, and the first the highest. The Third Estate was by far the majority, it was 95% of the population. If France were our middle school, out of the roughly 200 students, only about ten would be in the upper two classes. Servants, skilled and unskilled workers, serfs, storekeepers, and laborers were all part of the Third Estate. However, it didn't only consist of slaves and serfs, also doctors, lawyers, and teachers. These people were the very backbone of the nation. They payed the biggest share of the taxes, even though they had few privileges and almost no say in governmental decisions. It wasn't until the Estates-General was formed that the Third Estate began to have a voice in the government, but even then, they would lose by vote of two to one.

The First Estate is mainly made up of members of the Church, and religious leaders. People believed that God gave a hierarchy to them, and a luxurious life to religious men who lived under God. They represent a minuscule 1% of the people of France, or two people out of the 200 in our middle school. This small minority owns one-tenth of the land, however! These people enjoyed many privileges, including not having to pay taxes. Nevertheless, most of the people of the First Estate weren't corrupt and rich, but relatively poor and well meaning. Many also knew they had unfair privileges. 


The Second Estate consisted of nobility and royalty, other than the monarch, who stood outside of the estates system. Owning from 25-30% of all the land of France, they had no shortage of places to live. They enjoyed many of the same privileges as the First Estate, and collected rent from the peasants who lived on their land, allowing them to live a very lavish lifestyle. Often, people from this estate joined the Church and moved up to the First Estate. Women were also born into either the Second or Third Estates, but were also labeled with the 'feminine estates': either a virgin, a widow, or a wife. 

Bernard René de Launay

The people of the Third Estate felt like they were being treated unfairly, and their lives were being controlled by the government. A very iconic building of the government was the Bastille. The Bastille was a fortress, serving as a prison located in Paris. Around 30,000 pounds of gunpowder were stored in there, in order to prevent citizens from acquiring arms. A very secure place, the Bastille was very important, and seen by many every day, reminding them of the power of the government. At the time, the governor of the Bastille, proving to be a very important character in the later invasion, was named Bernard René de Launay, son of the previous governor. He was actually born inside Bastille walls, and died protecting them.

During the reign of Louis XVI, France fell upon a major economic crisis, partially because of France's intervention in the American revolution. France attempted to solve its money problems by severely taxing the citizens of the Third Estate. This caused the Third Estate to get extremely angry, only worsening conditions. The government got nervous and posted extra guards to the eighty-four guards already at the Bastille. Eventually, a small group of demonstrators from the twenty-four million strong Third Estate decided to attack the Bastille in Paris.

On July 14, 1789, hundreds and hundreds of peasants, doctors, writers, shopkeepers, and other unified near the Bastille. They had previously stormed the Hôtel des Invalides to gather 31,000 muskets, yet without powder or shot, and now were trying to acquire the 30,000 pounds of gunpowder in the Bastille. There were only seven prisoners there at the time, but the taking of this fortress would be a huge step. The 954 people gathered outside the gates, calling for the surrender of the prison, the removal of the cannons stationed on the wall, and the release of the prisoners and the gunpowder. Anticipating a response, the crowd's hopes rocketed when the governor admitted two negotiators. They stayed inside until noon, and then the people began to get restless and frustrated. Another half an hour later, the now furious mob charged the fortress. 

With whatever weapons the group could find, like a seething, unstoppable wave, they advanced, venting all their rage into this moment. Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities describes this scene immaculately. "With a roar that sounded as if all the breath in France had been shaped into the detested word, the living sea, wave on wave, depth on depth, and overflowed the city to the point. Alarm-bells ringing, drums beating, the sea raging and thundering on its new beach, the attack began. Deep ditches, double drawbridge, massive stone walls, eight great towers, cannon, muskets, fire and smoke. Through the fire and through the smoke-in the fire and in the smoke, for the sea cast him up against a cannon, and on the instant he became a cannonier..." By 3:00, new reinforcements came to the brave attackers; “gardes françaises,” who came along with two cannons, making the guards not the only ones with weapons.

Meanwhile, a substantial force of Royal Army troops were camped very nearby on the Champs de Mars, yet they didn't intervene. The fighting continued, a desperate reach for freedom, 954 courageous humans attacking an enormous fortress, the Bastille. 

Finally, at 5:30, July 14, 1789, Governor de Launay surrenders and opens the gates to the very inner courtyard, and the victorious mob swept into the core of the Bastille, concluding a successful yet hard-fought battle. 98 attackers died, and only one guard during the battle, but afterwards the people of the Third Estate took their revenge upon the guards, and killed many more. 

De Launay was dragged onto the streets from the fortress, and into a nearby tailor shop, where discussions about his fate began. Finally, he exclaimed, "Enough, let me die," but not before kicking an angry pastry chef named Dulait in the groin. Governor de Launay was repeatedly stabbed, shot, and kicked by the frothing, rabid, and furious mob, not yet satisfied with their victory. Finally, Bernard René de Launay's head was sawed off viciously, and triumphally set on a pike. The mob marched throughout the streets of Paris, showing off the beheaded face of the Governor, as well as the other dead guards.

Although this ending may seem unnecessarily violent, imagine a single man controlling your entire life, living above you, living with money and privileges, living a luxurious life while you starve on the streets. Living back then, you would have done the same! After the battle, the 954 heroes who stormed the Bastille would be forever remembered with the creation of an important holiday in France. Called Le Quatorze Juillet (14th of July), formally known as the Fête de la Fédération (Federation Holiday), and called Bastille Day in English, it celebrates the storming of the Bastille and the act of the Third Estate against the higher government for a greater, overall good.

Monet's depiction of Bastille Day

My family and I traveled to France this year before our annual visit to Hungary. We first stayed in Paris for a couple of nights - I mean, if you go to France, who doesn't stop in Paris - and then traveled to Corsica (incidentally where Napoleon Bonaparte was born). We were in Paris from July 12 to July 16, so we had the luck of being there for Bastille Day. It's treated similarly to the Fourth of July here in the U.S., what with fireworks, parties, and dancing. Bastille Day is also celebrated in many countries, such as Hungary, New Zealand, Belgium, England, and even here in Portland! On Champs Élysées, thousands of seats are set up along the street, for the citizens to view the soldiers marching, and the long military parade. Also on Champs-Élysées, hundreds of flags are raised to celebrate the event, accompanied by spectacular fireworks by the Eiffel Tower. We didn't get to go see the parade, the crowds must have been overwhelming, but at home we lit some fireworks with our host family, which was also a lot of fun!

While we were in France, I learned how much France's history affects every-day life, yet how different living in Paris must have been from how it is now. No matter which estate you were or are in, no matter whether you were there for the storming of the Bastille or not, whether you live in France or in Uruguay, everyone can reflect and be amazed and affected by the French history in 1789; everybody can continue to be inspired by what drove those attackers, the same inspiration many of us draw from every single day.

Works Cited:

"Estates of the Realm." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Jan. 2013. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.

"The Estates." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.

Dickens, Charles, Hablot Knight Browne, and Frederick Barnard. A Tale of Two Cities,. New York: Dodd, Mead &, 1942. Print.

"Google Images." Google Images. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.

"How Do You Pronounce Bastille?" Yahoo! Answers. Yahoo!, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.

Karpiel, Frank, Kathleen Krull, and Grant P. Wiggins. MyWorld History. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2012.

My mom

My camera (the pictures at the end are mine)

"Storming of the Bastille." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 02 Nov. 2013. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.

"The Three Estates." The Three Estates. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.

Some pictures from our visit to France: 

The beach in Corsica

The view from our little house in Corsica

Paris as seen from the Eiffel Tower (The line is so long!)

The Seine River as seen from the Eiffel Tower

Slavery

Thirteenth Amendment

What if the 13th amendment never abolished slavery? What would we do without it? If we still had slavery then imagine how different the world would be. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude, unless for a punishment for crime. For those who don’t know what involuntary servitude it refers to one person being forced to work for another. This was passed by the senate on April 8,1864 by the house. The Thirteenth amendment was the first of the three “reconstruction amendments” after the American Civil War. When the Thirteenth Amendment was proposed there wasn’t a new amendment in around 60 years. Before the Amendment the constitution, that the delegates proposed, included several provisions that protected slavery. The constitution states that all men were equal but was that really true, think slaves were men to. Typically men who were forced to be slaves more than any other ethnicity.  White men were considered people who were whole because of the color of their skin. Look at the picture at the two pictures of the slaves and look to see how many men there are working in the fields to.
What if slavery was still in our world today? What would we do? Before the thirteenth amendment slaves were considered only 3/5ths of a person. Slaves were treated as if they were property, they were traded and bought by white wealthy men. If slavery wasn’t abolished I think that there would be no exploration because people were like property. Imagine if we still had slavery and you were a slave. You wouldn’t have an education or a life of your own. If slavery wasn’t abolished our world as we know it would be changed gone.

Johann Pachelbel

Johann Pachelbel

                 The precise date of birth of Johann Pachelbel is unknown. What we do know is that he was baptized on September 1, 1653. Johann Pachelbel was not only a great German composer but also a teacher and organist. Pachelbel taught Johann Christoph Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach’s older brother.  Pachelbel was also the godfather of Johanna Juditha Bach. Pachelbel was a really good friend of the Bach family. His music was highly influenced by many southern baroque composers. Pachelbel’s famous compositions are the ‘Canon in D,’ the ‘Toccata,’ and the ‘Chaconne in F.’
                    
                 Pachelbel was born into a ‘middle-class’ family. His father, Johann Pachelbel, was an wine dealer. They both lived with Mr. Pachelbel’s second wife. Johann Pachelbel supposedly wrote the ‘Canon in D’ for Johann Christoph Bach’s wedding. I’m currently learning the canon and I think that it is really fun. To listen to it here is a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pachelbel%27s_Canon.ogg

    During Pachelbel’s last years he stayed in Nuremberg, where he made and published some music. Johann Pachelbel died when he was 52 on March 3, 1706.










Works Cited:

Estrella, Espie. "Johann Pachelbel." About.com Music Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2013. <http://musiced.about.com/od/classicalmusicians/a/onehitwonder.htm>.

"Johann Pachelbel." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Jan. 2013. Web. 30 Jan. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Pachelbel>.

Kampen, John V. "Dr. John v. Kampen - Time For... Johann Pachelbel." RSS 20. Dr. John v. Kampen, 10 Feb. 2010. Web. 30 Jan. 2013. <http://my.opera.com/nepmak2000/blog/time-for-pachelbel>.

Pure Sheet Music. "Canon in D Pure Sheet Music for Piano and Alto Saxophone by Johann Pachelbel Arranged by Lars Christian Lundholm." Kobo. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2013. <http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Canon-Pure-sheet-music-piano/book-78qxEYqwTUyHP_qNSBx6kw/page1.html>.