The path to freedom

1. In this day and age it really is something out of the ordinary to be completely sustainable, and to have nobody in the family have any sort of job. Even though they do have some electricity, their house has almost no electricity usage, and even then has a power plant. It seems interesting that a family has a way to live, that if we all followed, would create a sustainable human race. It just seems odd that the way to become sustainable is known, yet they're the only ones that are truly following it to freedom.
2. Honestly when I think of their needs vs wants sheet, I imagine many more needs then wants. They don't have a cell phone or many things that people have these days, and create many things themselves and avoid the costs in the first place. They spend near nothing, and make money still form their style of living. Their needs list would not even be that big, but would be much larger in proportion.
3. This fits into what we're studying in My Ishmael because it is about living sustainably. If we all lived just like them there would be no wars and would create an actual utopia, if we are ever to achieve a utopia, this is the only way I see it as being done. Not only would everybody be happy, but we would actual reach sustainability and not continue to destroy our planet the way we have.
4. The family seems to live and work as a whole unit. Many families get divorced or just don't spend much time with each other, however this family is just the opposite. http://www.pathtofreedom.com/ They are not living in the stone age, they aren't using all the latest gadgets either. They are just using what is needed while only minimally taking what they want and looking out for each other.

Ishmael blog assignment #2

1. Anthropomorphism mean the use of human characteristics in something that is not human. When Ishmael used the word anthropomorphism, was referring to objects acting in a way that resembles the way that humans act. He was referring to animals marking their territory by going to the bathroom and how humans saw that as human characteristics of marking land, even though they do not go out of their way to find it. He was using the word to show how we are thinking of the deer and how they mark their territory to be the same way we mark our own by buying it and living on it.

2a. Ishmael defines erratic relations as a way of preventing war between the cawks. The cawks have developed it to prevent all out war while still punishing those who do wrong. If a group tribesmen came and killed some people, they would only punish the group, not start an all out war.

2b. Not only does it prevent all out war between two tribes, but it keeps both sides relatively happy. The ones who the crime was against would get their revenge, and those from the other tribe would not be in an all out war and be able to continue their lives!

2c. The reason they do not have all out war is because they want a future for their race. They want to be able to expand and reproduce, until one tribe becomes big and proves it dominance and have one large tribe for their race.

Ishmael blog post 1

1. Two ways to identify people from our culture are through our way of keeping food under lock and key, and identifying ourselves as fundamentally flawed. Ishmael says that people all over the world are of the same culture, and I agree with him. The kind of culture that Ishmael is talking about is the culture of agriculture, which is what seperates us from animals. The majority of the world are takers while very few remain as leavers.
2. Ishmael says that humans are inheritly flawed, and I disagree. I feel that Humans are not inherently flawed. But our culture is. The leavers were not really flawed, but when we expanded to something we didn't really know by becoming takers. We did not know how to make a civilization and were then destined to fail. One can not try to expand onto a failed experiment without scrapping it and starting over. The leavers were going along perfectly fine before the takers came. Humans are not inherently flawed, just takers are.
3. Leavers are those who didn't take up agriculture while the takers were practiced and picked up agriculture as their way to survive and formed a civilization. Americans are what are known as takers. We are completely based on the beliefs of the takers, and thus also believe ourselves as fundamentally flawed and destined to fail without trying to save ourselves. We feel that the only way to find a way to live sustainably is to find a different race to show us the way and save us.

Freedom and sustainability

1.Living sustainably is something that humans have yet to achieve. We are not living sustainably, we are continually expanding and continuing to use up more of Earth's space and destroying the planet. To live sustainably would involve controlling expansion and reducing the need in order to survive. If one was to reach sustainability, one must also destroy continued growth or you would be forever traveling and expanding until you eventually run out of space and can no longer be sustained, and start dying off taking everything with you. To be sustainable with food and living is to be sustainable with growth.

2. As a 14 year old the amount of freedom you have is limited. You can't drive yet, and even once you get your permit you must drive with a parent before you can drive with yourself. You can barely leave home without permission and still rely on parents. We have to go to school and have to continue to schedule. There is a lot of stuff you can't do until you grow up, drinking, jobs and much more. Even when you grow up there are still lots of things you can't do.

3. There is not much you can do at 14 to become more sustainable. You don't control your funds or even what you eat or how much. That is all determined and there are many decisions you cannot make. You can try to conserve power and not eat as much sure, but there is not a very large area of difference because you are not in control.

Semester goals

Patience is a virtue

When I started school back in august, I wasn't sure what to expect in my first year of high school. I have, without a doubt, grown outside my original group of friends. Many of my middle school friends went to another school and the ones I remember, I go between. I am not always with just one group of my friends. I have really gone outside my comfort zone and tried many new things. I feel I'm more likely to try something new then I was before.
One skill I think is important to survive in humanities is patience. If you try to take short cuts you really will not do as well on assignments or class work. You have to be patient so you make sure you get everything and take your time. If you try to just get an assignment done you really are not putting your full 100% effort into it and that can be drastic in humanities specifically.
One thing I need to improve in is in fact taking my time while reading. I tend to end up skipping over words while I am reading, which leads to less understanding because I miss a few words. I am really going to have to tell myself to read slower and make sure I read every word. If I have to I should re-read pages multiple times until I think understand the page pretty well. If I don't do this I will not get as much from the books I read.
The subject that I want to research the most is something more in the biology section. I find animals quite interesting and there is never a limit to what they can do. I've found them interesting for a long time and I would want to research them more.

Semester goals

Dialectic journal books 7 and 8

Page 340, Doreion, Hound and Ball Player were all dead. The living would need us more then ever.

Though this would seem like the end of the adventure with casualties, especially for the dead, that only means they have to work harder then ever. Just because they want to mourn the deaths of their fallen comrads, that doesnt mean they can actually stop to accept the deaths or mourn them, especially with all the deaths that are going on back on the battlefield if they were to take a break. Nothing is ever easy in war, but is anything ever easy?

Page 321, Ball Player assumed a stance to urinate. "Don't," Alexandros nudged him. "Or the deer will never use this nest again."

It is odd how a small act like that can create such a large effect to someone else. Ball Player wouldn't have thought twice about his actions, but it could change the deer forever, they would never nest there again and it would create a large overall effect. Luckily there are still people like Alexandros who think about these kinds of things and care enough to stop it from happening. It only takes one person to make a huge difference for somebody else by standing up to somebody.

Page 323, I have searched all my life for that which you have possessed from birth, a noble city to belong to. 

This returns to the theme of having a city to belong to. Xeo felt worthless after he had lost his city and searched for a new city to set down his roots and try to join. Another quote comes to mind here, when Xeo choose the spartan city of spartans, over Athens because it raises men instead of profits. He wants to be able to make himself be something and help his city, rather then be something himself. He would rather have something that he works to represent.

Page 374, Those were the last tears of mine, my lord, that the sun will ever see.

He is finally ready to embrace his fate, and is ready to die. He has accepted all the deaths up until now and has set them aside, so he can concentrate fully on the battle coming up, the final battle with no survivors. There is no longer a way out for him and he will fight to the end and try to die with honor and kill every last persian he can.

Page 380, They had defeated the mightiest army and navy in history. What lesser undertaking could now daunt them? What enterprise could they not dare?

This is taking place after the battle of Thermopylae the Greeks were able to win against Persia. They were inspired from the works of the Spartans and the fight at Thermopylae. The Greeks were literally the strongest force in the world, for they had defeated the mighty Persia with less numbers, but more spirit and power in the numbers. The spirits of the Greeks won out in the end and became the worlds strongest. They were truly the victors (though still with many losses.)