Don't Judge a Book by it's Cover

In the play Much Ado About Nothing, William Sahkespeare shows us some of the stereo types of his time in the character Dogberry. Dogberry is precieved as a "stupid" character because he is obviously of the lower class. This is shown when Dogberry misunderstands the word tedious and unknowingly makes a fool of himself when he says "but truly, for mine own part, if I were as tedious as a king, I could find it in my heart to bestow it all of your worship" (III.5.17-19). Here Shakespeare is showing us that the lower class is uneducated by making this character the seemingly comic relief of the play so we can laugh at his mistakes. Leonato does what any upper class citizen would've done and forgets about the nonsense that Dogberry spoke.
Later in the play however, we discover that had Leonato taken the time to understand Dogberry, he would have stopped Don John's evil plan before it even started. If Leonato had listened he would have discovered that Hero wasn't cheating on Claudio and in fact loved him very much. Shakespeare is presenting us with a challenge to his ealier stereo type by telling us that sometimes it's worth it to take the time to understand those that we view as infierior. Shakespear is telling us that we shouldn't always judge a book by its cover because sometimes what doesn't seem so good on the outside can turn out to be what we've wanted all along.

lier lier pants on fire

In the play Much Ado About Nothing, there are a lot of characters who partake in the practice of lying. One good example of this is when Leanato, the Prince and Claudio all lie to Benedick about Beatrice loving him (II.3). In this particular instince i think that lying is acceptable because no one is being harmed. However, if the lying cause Benedick to do something rash that brought physical or emotional harm to himself or others, this wouldn't be a good time to lie. Because of these tight rules for lying, there's never a really good time to lie because something bad can always happen.

I think that a good philosophy to live by would be never lie because that would save you from any harm lying could cause you or others. This isn't realistic though so a good idea would be only to lie when it's absolutly neccessary like in order to keep someone else from harm. If your mom has on the ugliest christmas sweater you've ever seen, sometimes it's just better to tell her you think its beautiful just so that she is happy and no one's feelings get hurt. One example of a bad time to lie would be when asked a question like "why didn't you do your homework." While at the time it may seem like a good idea to lie and make something up, in the end you didn't do it and lying will just dig you deeper into the hole. The moral of this story is basiclly, just don't lie...what else?

Where the Sidewalk Ends

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.


The poem "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein is a poem about a place where things are better than they are here. It's where the sidewalk ends where Silverstein says that "And there the grass grows soft and white, / And there the sun glows crimson bright" (3-4). In this place the sun is much brighter and the grass much softer and it seems to be a better place. Silverstein uses words like "peppermint wind" to show the childlike glow that this imaginary place has (6). These words are setting the mood for our imaginations to take over and think of an amazingly perfect place. Silverstein is trying to get us away from the "place where the smoke blows black / And the dark street winds and bends" (7-8). He is saying that we should free our selves from the world full of pollution and concrete and go to the beautiful place where the sidewalk ends.

The overall tone to this poem seems to be that we can be better off than we are if we just "go where the chalk white arrows go / for the children, they mark, and the children, they know" (14-15) Silverstein is encouraging us to change here and is saying that we need to have the innocence of children instead of being so corrupted. He is saying that if we could all believe in things like the sidewalk comming to an end in a magical place we would stop with so much of our polluting and watefullness. Silverstein seems to want everyone to be kids.

Quarter One

I learned a lot in quarter one. The things that I remeber the most are things from the visual literacy unit because it was the most recent and the most fun. I learned all about camera angles and filming techniques which i found interesting. The thing that i need to work on the most is explaining and analyzing everything fully. This is one area that I have already improved on a lot but i still need to improve much more. I like the way our class has been going so far. I don't like how much writing we have to do but i know that it's inevitable so im not complaining to much. I think that for quarter two my main goal is to get an A and this can be done by trying my best but not expecting to get an A on everything. So far I'm pretty happy with the way things are going.

Outside Reading, The Big Finish

This is the last section of The Bourne Supremecy by Robert Ludlum. In this section Bourne finally captures his mysterious imposter and now thinks that his wife, Marie, will be returned to him from the "buisness" man who took her away. Bourne's mysterious imposter turns out to be an ex- British army oficer who had a great carrier going. Unfortunatley, after the death of his wife along with this mans terrible drinking problem, he slipped into a crazed state of rage where he became this imposter that Bourne had been chasing. Bourne is shocked and angry when he learns that the government has used him yet again for their secretive purposes. While assured he would be compensated for his efforts to help his country as well as the rest of the world, Bourne and Marie decide to just fall off the grid and hope that the government wont find them and force any more of their evils onto the two of them.
The character Jason Bourne aka David Webb definatley grows the most throughout the novel. While the main conflict of the story is Bourne trying to find his wife, a smaller ongoing conflict is Bourne trying to find out about his past. Bourne knows next to nothing about himself except for that which was told to him by the government which has betrayed him so many times before. Bourne learns that even though he may be a killer, it doesnt mean he must kill. Bourne comes to associate himself by two things, the killer Jason Bourne, and the husband David Webb. While he would rather get rid of his Bourne side he learns that he needs to just deal with it like when he is talking with Marie and says "'What do you do when there's a part of you that you hate?' said Webb. 'Accept it' answered Marie" (Ludlum 640). Bourne grows the most in that he may not know that much more about himself and his past, but he now accepts it for what it is.
This novel is very similar to our summer reading book Extremley Loud and Incredibly Close by Johnathan Safran Foer because both are really journeys of self discovery disguised in other objectives. Oskar from Extremley Loud is in search of a lock to which he believes will contain information about his father in some way. Oskar is really looking to find out more about himself which he accomplishes without even realizing much like how Jason Bourne finds out more ab out himself in his journey to find Marie. Both characters' greatest discovery is that they can live with the way they are and don't have to change in order to deal with the things that happen to them. The final quote of The Bourne Supremacy shows that maybe the things we hate the most, are things that are the most important, "'Everyone has a dark side. Yours is a legend called Jason Bourne, but that's all it is.' 'I loathe him.' 'He brought you back to me. That's all that matters'" (Ludlum 646).

The Return of Outside Reading

In the latest section of The Bourne Supremacy, Bourne foils his imposter's plot to kill the crown governor of the Peoples Rebuplic of China. The crown govenor is going to give a speech and after talking with the frenchman, Bourne learns that his imposter has recently taken a contract to kill the crown govenor. Bourne is in a time crunch to figure out how his imposter plans to kill him in such a high security location without getting caught or getting killed himself. Pretending to be an anti-terrorist expert, Bourne blends in with the security at the air port where the speech will be takiong place. Bourne is flabergasted by all the security and thinks that attempting a kill would be almost impossible like when Bourne says, "The odds were overwhelmingly against. Suicide...Yet it was these same heavenly negative odds that the imposter-killer found irresistible" (ludlum 509). Bourne goes on to realize that maybe the imposter intends to kill not only the crown govenor, but his close staff that will be attending the speech too. Bourne gets to the arriving limo with them in it in just enough time to evacuate them before the explosion. Bournes only objective now is to find his imposter in order to save his wife Marie.
Marie's friend Staples is captured by the American embassey in the beggining of this section. The embassey explains to Staples that they had no intention of hurting Marie and that they only used her to get to Bourne. As amoral as this plan was, they are using Bourne to catch this imposter because he is the only man fit for the job. The government pleads to Staples to bring in Marie because if Bourne does his job and the word gets out that Marie is no where to be found, Bourne will come after those in charge of the operation, most likeley leaving none alive. Even with realizing the gravity of the situation, Marie is outragged by the situation that she and her husband are being forcibley put through like whe she says, "Have you any idea what you've done to us? It's barbaric and i mean that in the full ugliness of the word" (Ludlum 523). However, even with her outrage, Marie decides that she will stay with the American embassey until this imposter is brought to justice and her husband can return.

Outside Reading Strikes Back

In the latest section that I read from The Bourne Supremacy, Bourne is as close as he has ever been to finding his imposter. Bourne follows his leads to a contact of the mysterious Frenchman, and after a quick bout, the contact is forced to tell Bourne what he knows. Going off the contact's tip, Bourne heads to a clearing in a forest outside of Shenzen where the Frenchman and Bourn's imposter are supposed to meet. As Bourne observes the meeting about to start, gunfire rains down upon the men and chaos errupts. Not wanting to let his prey escape him, Bourne chases down the Frenchman who turns out to be a mna that Bourne had met in Paris and in his mysterious workings in Medusa, "D'Anjou! I am d'Anjou! Medusa! Tam Quan!" (Ludlum 395)D'Anjou informs him that Bourne's imposter is actually his creation. Controlling him at first, d'Anjou made a fortune off the contracts of Bourne's imposter untill the imposter started to rebel thinking he no longer needed this guidence. The gunfire in the clearing that Bourne encountered was his attempt at killing Bourne's imposter, his failed attempt. So Bourne is again faced with the conflict of tracking down his imposter so that he may save his captured wife Marie.
Unknown to Bourne, Marie has escaped her government capters and is on the run. Marie's first objective is to search for help which she finds from an old friend at the Canadian consulate. Marie's friend is Catherine Staples. After hearing Marie's story, Staples is determined to help her and her husband. Staples seems to be driven by loyalty and by repaying a debt of kindness to an old friend. As the two of them look for any leads on where Bourne might be, the American undersecratery McAllister finds out that Marie was in contact with Staples and the manhunt for the both of them begins. Marie and Staples are now both on the run from the American embassey as well as the local Hong Kong police. Marie goes through many hardships while in hiding. Marie is attacked by some boys who said that she was tresspassing on their territory, "This is a forbidden road, a forbidden part of the shore" (Ludlum 416). Marie barley escapes an attempted rape and falls into unconciousness at the end of the section.