Indian Heritage

When Englishmen settled in America, indigenous natives referred to as Indian's, already ruled the land. Slowly but surely, we gained control of their land. We tell our children stories such as The Great Thanksgiving and although we may completely alter the truth of the story, they have become important to the story of our country.

As soon as we gained control over the natives, our ancestors grouped these people into special places of land known as reservations. The United States government has granted each of the reservations the right to have a government of their own choice. Many of the governments are run similarly to the 3-group system (Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branch) that the United States have. Others, may run it completely differently by having committees for control, or even the tribal government that most television shows would portray an traditional Indian tribe to have.

In America, we hold stigmas against our native people when we may not even know the real story behind this culture. Many people believe that they have extremely low high school completion rates, high unemployment rates, and high poverty rates. Although Native Americans may follow a more traditional way of life, we look down upon them in our current society because they follow different systems than the way that we live.

In a TED Talk done by a woman with Native American heritage, they discussed the different problems that are holding Indians back from becoming an accepted part of our society.


The lady then further explained how native Americans truly live and who they are. To be completely honest, nearly all of the history teachers that I have had portrayed any Indian tribe similar to the way the video described how a citizen without the whole Indian understanding, would describe an Indian.

Whether you live on an Indian reservation or 1,000 miles away from one, it is important to know what truly happens in their lines. Based upon the information I have come across in class and other peoples responses on the importance of our natives, I have come to realize how little our society knows about Indian Reservations. I believe that in order for us to resolve current stereotypes, we need to further educate American citizens.

Evolution of Society

There has never been a perfect government. A perfect government is nearly impossible because there would not be room for misinterpretation. Nearly every human that walks the earth, has agreed to be a part of a government whether the government is perfect, unjust, or simply led by one person. Protection, safety, and government-run assistance programs are some examples of why people would join a government.

Society as we know it is constantly changing. Because society evolves, it is very difficult to maintain one strict set of rules to follow. In America, The Constitution was written to accommodate for changing times yet, the accommodations are hard to come by. It's very difficult to change an amendment because we have based our country on happiness. By this, I mean happiness in a majority. In order for a change in an amendment or law, the majority vote must be in favor of the changes.

Happiness in a society is hard to come by because not everyone is accepting over new or old things. As society changes, the way that we communicate and interpret different phrases also change. These differences cause many problems when it comes to misinterpretation. Laws, freedoms, and certain expectations that are misinterpreted can cause life long problems including loss of jobs, economic issues, or a simple dent in your reputation. As a police officer, there are certain procedures that you are required to follow in order for arresting someone. These procedures include receiving a search warrant. Search warrants are necessary as we are protected from unreasonable searches and seizures. Certain exceptions to the procedures are evident, but the exceptions can cause confusion in just one work force.

Although there has not been an everlasting government to this date, that does not mean there will never be one. The perfect government must overcome barriers such as confusion, misinterpretation, and unhappiness. It will adapt old laws to better fit the country's present and future needs in a just way. The perfect government is yet to come.  

Freedom.

Freedom is the sole reason why human beings are allowed to live in a way that suits who they are. It is what allows us to make personal decisions. The concept of freedom is what the United States is based off of. Freedom is probably the most clear description of the American Dream. Currently, one of the biggest controversies of our country is about whether our populations freedom is still eminent.

When the Bill of Rights was written, our founding fathers believed that the amendments they had created would build a strong basis for our country; an everlasting strong basis. Evidently, amendments would be added and adapted to suit modern times to come but they are very difficult to change. Government officials who take part in the evolution of laws, take into consideration their own ethics and morals. The problem with ethics and morals is that they're hard to change. It is very difficult to convince a stubborn person that opposes you to believe the way that you do.

In America, government is essentially a two-party system. On one side there are the democrats. On other, are republicans. As people, we're all very stubborn no matter how hard we try to avoid showing it. This is where politics becomes difficult; nobody likes compromise. There are always two or more sides to each story. That is why we have a court system. When a compromise takes place, nobody wins. When nobody wins, everybody settles. If a compromise occurs, it is very unlikely that the solution will remain resolved.

When policy and government become inadequate to a population, things will fall apart. One of the ultimate goals of every type government is for structure that prevents things from breaking down. In the book Lord of the Flies, a stranded group of children believe that having a government is vital to their survival. By establishing a ruling system, there were certain rules that each member was to follow in order for the system to run smoothly. Each child was granted certain freedoms including the right to arm themselves; a current controversy in America is over our second amendment which grants American citizens the right to carry a weapon. Looking back on worldwide history, it has shown us that disarming a population grants government too much power.

Is getting rid of or rewriting our second amendment worth the possible negative outcomes? The answer to this question is different to everyone. It could be yes if you are directly related to the person that is harmed by weapons but if you were stand on the other side of the argument, the answer is most likely a no. Tradition takes a big part in our morals and ethics. Like I mentioned earlier, they are parts of us that very difficult to change. Each are formed from experiences, the way that we were raised, and many other factors. Traditions cause us to be opinionated over certain topics. For say, if you grew up hunting, you would probably feel as though gun laws should not be added. On the other side, if someone that you have loved is deceased by somebody holding a weapon, you would probably feel as though more laws or bans should be added.

Freedom or lack of freedom is different to everyone and to every location. Determining what freedoms we should be given is even harder. Freedoms do have their consequences. Whether being granted a freedom is worth it, depends on the populations opinion; do the benefits outweigh the costs?

Quest

Learning is about elevating your thoughts, building upon your experiences, and discovering new perspectives. Quest English taught me how to think. As a student, I was challenged to change my opinions and to look at the world in a way that I had never discovered. As a class, we made broad inferences that became conclusions with evidence beyond the textbook. That is what Quest is; thinking, opinions, and conclusions.

Whether we were reading books based on different cultures such as Things Fall Apart, or a the classic book the Lord of the Flies (which looked in on not taking anything for granted: even blueberries) we had deep discussions not on what the author was meaning or on comprehension, but on what we liked, how it relates to life. I guess Quest is life too.

I have identified so much about myself and about what I want in my life in Quest English. I have been surrounded by people who even if they do not want to, support me and have my back in anything that I want to accomplish. The people in this class have pushed me in the right direction. I was out of my comfort zone the majority of time. Especially when I first started as an eighth grader. I walked into my first class of the day overwhelmed and nervous to be with this group of people. I sat down and waited for class to start. We began discussing fear. The majority of class, I had NO idea what was going on. I walked out of class wondering "does everybody feel like this too?" After the first quarter, I was ecstatic the moment that I walked into English. The people understood me. I soon learned how to look at things in a way that I could almost perfectly express my thoughts. I thought deeper. This class wasn't a class about grammar or about "what does the author mean?" it was about making us better people, students, and thinkers.

I am so grateful that I was invited to experience Quest. Honestly, I can say that I will miss this class and the people that are in it. I will miss my test free classes led by McCallum. But, because of determinism, I am here to write a semi-formal blog that I would have had no idea how to write if I would not have been in this class. I started blogging in fourth grade but I don't think that really counts. From my first blog that I wrote on Fear, to my 20th which I am writing about Quest, I have come so far as a writer. I think deeper now and I know how to look at something from a different perspective. After Quest, I am changed. Changed in a good way that is.

Thank you for helping me discover who I am, what I am, and the difference that I make in the world. I have become more of myself the past two years. Quest has given me opportunities I wouldn't have been given if I was still an Enriched English student. I probably wouldn't be an editor for The Hoofprint, and quite frankly, I probably wouldn't be apart of newspaper. Because of Quest, I have met people that I can trust with nearly anything. So thank you for all of the experiences that Quest has given me, and taught me.

Lord of the Flies on Leadership (Post 1 & 2)

Being a leader is a funny thing. Most people expect leadership to amount to happiness, being liked, and an overwhelming amount of appreciation. Leadership is not all that it is cracked up to be.

"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant." -Max Depree

Depree describes how different stages of leadership can be very opposite of each other. To me, the "in between" is when things fall apart. Each leader has a way that they want things to go. He has already defined this, and spoken to his followers about it. The success of the overall running of the proposed plan lies on the followers. After all, one person with out support, cannot over rule two people with the rest of the world backing them.

Leaders and followers are constantly competing for each others roles. They want "power". Power as described in the dictionary means the ability to do or act and the control over other people. People strive for this. The European Journal of Social Psychology describes this yearning as "strivings to increase one's sense of agency (personal power) by decreasing dependence on others, rather than by strivings to increase power over others (social power)". On page 102 of Lord of the Flies, Jack and Ralph are competing for their position in a hunt to find the beast. Jack tells Ralph "This is a hunters job." Ralph replies by saying "This is more than a hunters job, because you can't track the beast. And don't you want to be rescued?" Ralph reiterates his point many times by saying the simple line "Don't you want to be rescued?" The competition between Ralph and Jack brought strain on the island. People did not know how they were supposed to feel. Deep down inside, they wanted the power that Ralph and Jack were competing for.

On page 117 in Lord of the Flies, Ralph and Jack are faced with the dilemma to give some of their earned power to someone else named Piggy. Ralph made the decision that it was best for the group to return to the main camp and shelters rather than continue searching for the beast. If they were to have continued searching,  Piggy would have been left to watch the small children called littleluns. Piggy would have taken a small amount of control. The earned leadership was hard for Ralph and Jack to give up.

Jack spends the majority of the book fighting for power with Ralph. Jack wants to be chief: he wants the control that Ralph has. On Page 127 in Lord of the Flies, Jack says "I'm not going to play any longer. Not with you. I'm not going to be apart of Ralph's lot- I'm going off by myself. [...] Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too." Jack had reached a breaking point for himself. He had mixed views with Ralph on the ways that they should survive. I believe that Jack had finally thought he would be better off on his own where he could control his own impulses and rely on himself completely. This follows completely what the European Journal of Social Psychology states that the yearning for power is. He wanted to have things his way. But he wanted people to follow him and take part in what he believed. Jack was tired of relying on Ralph for guidance and trust.

The Lord of the Flies displays the competition between two similar people. We can not accept to come second as a human; we yearn to be first. It is not possible to not be dependent on other people yet we cannot accept that fact. When a person can not accept being second, power falls apart.

The Lord of the Flies models my assumption that power must fall apart completely. The children try to create a society similar to their previous one: the one that they believe is perfect. The children create rules and traditions similar to those of the normal world. Together, the children began to run a successful government. Jack's inablitiy to not have complete power destroys this government. The children are put in split decisions that none of them are capable of handling. Until they are rescued, they are in a form of war.

A blogger on the Huffington Post suggests that "A service is inaugurated today and four weeks later it already begins to lose quality and is restricted" This is what happened in the case of the children on the island; everything became normal for awhile and then it was not important. At first, the kids strived for normalcy but once it was there, they did not care about it.

As individuals, we strive for power, and for independence. In order for everyone to be happy with a society, it must fall apart. There is no place that everyone is truthfully happy. Author William Golding shows this through the main characters in the book Lord of the Flies; Ralph and Jack.

Role of Fear Vs. Role of Hope

Fear and hope play an important role in the way we live and our everyday lives. Our fears send us in a certain direction in making decisions in our lives, but so do our hopes. Fear and hope intertwine. The society that we live in, instills fears such as punishments but not only do they imply fear, hope in form of reward is always there.

Seth Godin wrote an article about the hope that the market brings us. He says that "What marketers sell is hope. The magical thing about hope is that it makes everything work better, every day get better, every project work better, every relationship feel better." In this blog post, Godin is describing the American Dream . The American Dream requires hopes for better things.This the reason why our ancestors came to America. In order for us as human beings to be happy and successful, we need to turn to hope for encouragement. Whether our encouragement is our salary, a win, a relationship, or the hope for something to not happen.

When we hope for something to not happen, we are fearing that it will happen. Nobody can be fearless. Not even heroes. In an article written by James R.Fleming about the book What Superheroes Really Tell Us about Ourselves and Our Society, he describes a hero as "someone who rises above his or her fears and limitations to achieve something extraordinary." We can all be a hero. In order to achieve this mass of success, we must discover our fears, defy them, and hope that everything from that point on will come in our favor.

Even though Fear and Hope are opposite emotions in how they effect us, if we have one, we must have the other. In a discussion over the book Hiroshima, Mallory Rabehl stated that "Fear is the initial thought. Hope comes next." she said that "you act first in fear and next with hope that it will be okay." When lifeboats are put on passenger ships, the company is fearing that if there is an accident then the lives on the ship will be at risk. By putting lifeboats on the ship, they are hoping that if something bad happens, the life boats will be there to protect the people. The book Unbroken demonstrates this. This book is a story of survival Louie Zamperini. The plane that Louie is flying in, is going down in the middle of the ocean. Thankfully, the plane carried an inflatable life boat that saved his life. In this situation, everyone of the plane faced death. They hoped for survival. With a mixture of luck and perseverance, Zamperini  makes it out alive.

The world that we live in, influences the hopes and fears that we have. It manipulates our emotions. This is something that we cannot control. We can barely control our personal fears and hopes let alone defy all of them. Our hopes and fears control our personality, whether we are the hero or the bystander, whether we are looking for a positive or negative outcome (rewards, punishment), and the quick decisions that we make in a time of fear. Hopes and Fears are intertwined by all of these reasons. The emotion is unavoidable. 

Growing Old in the Cold: An Observation On a Boys Squirt Hockey Practice

I. Preface (Leighton):

Growing up in a hockey arena has made an inevitable impact on my life. As a child, I learned discipline and commitment from it. It was something that I hated with my whole heart and slowly I learned to love. Hockey is a sport that in order to become good, it takes years upon years and lots of work. Similar to most of the older hockey players in Buffalo, when I enter the Buffalo Civic Center, I automatically recognize almost all of the adults and the people who work there. Spending so much time at one place brings everyone closer together. It’s like a family. Everyone cares for each other.

There is a significant difference between the boys’ hockey program and the girls’ program though. These differences are evident in the ways that boys act towards the game, the way that they are coached, and their different personality towards hockey. Girls and boys are very different and that is inevitable. While observing the Squirt Development Camp, I expect that the practice will be much more aggressive than a female practice and the lines that the boys will form will be relative to their individual skills. I also expect that at the end of the practice, they will play some sort of competitive games.



I. Preface (Jillianne):

When I was younger I would view the sport of hockey as a functional opportunity to get away, and enrich my mind and skills. To this day it plays a big role on my everyday life and I have never strayed away from the idea that it is enriching and developing. The Buffalo Hockey Association is a place where everything is an organized, everyone is familiar with one another and with everything, and everybody shares one common interest, hockey.

As you are at the younger levels, the association is co-ed, the years the genders split, are the key stages in a childs hockey career. I have partaken in the girls program, and I barely had enough time to keep up with my own team, let alone watching the boys. Here and there our practices will share ice time, but the halves divide along with the teams. There is an obvious reason why the genders split, and that is because of the vast amount of difference.

As for the differences, I assume that before the drills/ individual warmups and such, I think knowing boys, they know the abilities that they are most confident in and they will try and show what they can do off. Which means the ones that can skate the fastest will spend most of time skating, and for the boys that have a good shot will sit at the net and keep shooting. The boys that are playing the game for fun will be socializing. I think the superior players and the players with most potential will definitely show. At this young age of developing skills for the future, the kids are more focused on what they can do to make them individually better, not a team. So I believe that in small games or scrimmaging when a kid gets an opportunity to have the puck, he will use it and not think about passing it and letting someone else have a chance.



II. Background Information:

The Buffalo Civic Center has two ice sheets. One of the arenas is referred to as the “new” rink. This ice sheet is the most renovated rink the center has. The new rink was added on to the original complex which is referred as the “Peterson rink”, or the old rink.

Most hockey players, ameliorate themselves, by following a certain path of levels in the hockey association. The first level is called Mini-mites. In mini-mites, you stay local by only playing in your city. It is meant for kids age 7 and under. Mites, is very similar to Mini-mites, but it is designed for kids that are 9 years old or younger. Traveling hockey begins after Mites when you reach either Squirts, if you are a boy, or U10’s if you are a girl. Skaters are at this level for two seasons. For most people, their Squirt and U10 season occurs while they are 9, and 10. After this, the boys move on to Peewees and the girls will advance to U12’s. Alike the other years, players stay at this level for two years. During the seasons when they are 13 and 14, boys will play bantams, and girls will move on to play U14 hockey until they are 15. Some, choose to play High School Hockey when they reach the U14 level depending on their preference.



III. Observations:

When we first walked into our local Buffalo hockey arena, we were immediately surrounded by cool air. We made our way up the bleachers of the new arena, to the top of the stands and into the observing bench. The players had just gotten on the ice, and were coming on the ice one by one. They were doing individual warm-ups. We first noticed that a few of the players have a different colored hockey socks then most. Two players had red socks, and one player had blue. We presumed that this meant that these players may have partaken in an out of season team prior to this practice. We then noticed a girl in this squirt practice, which was very unusual. She was skating around by herself, and we noted her as the ‘Lonely Girl.’ Everyone else on the ice were males, including the coaches,

During the individual warm ups, the net would slowly fill up with pucks from the players shooting the. When there were no more pucks left to shoot, the players would go into the net and grab a puck just for themselves, even though they are already in the net and could easily take out the rest. We presumed that the players only worry about benefiting themselves as a player.

There were five coaches on the ice. One coach blew the whistle and all of the kids gathered around him. He was bearded, and held a clipboard so we assumed he was the head coach, and we called him the bearded coach. The bearded coach was making hand motions and drawing on a white board, and then motioned for the kids to line up against the wall. Once all the kids were in their places, the bearded coach blew his whistle and the kids started their first drill.

The first players started to skate, and then we heard someone yelling. We noticed that a coach in a grey hood was already yelling at the kids to “GO!” we labeled this coach as the ‘yeller coach.’ Looking at the players lined up on the board a few of them were talking to one another, and the lonely girl budged someone in line. Lonely girl found a friend now, and she keeps talking to him smiling, and laughing. When the boy she was talking to closes the conversation she stands back a few steps and stares at him. When she was backing up she tripped and fell, a sure sign of a 10 year-old crush. It is now the lonely girls turn to start the drill and she doesn’t know what to do. She then has to restart the drill, which is one of many side effects of a crush.

After this drill that took up the entire ice, the bearded coach blew the whistle and everyone met in the middle. He called off names and everyone he called off went in a separate spot on the ice. Each of the four stations did different drills and had different coaches. When the players reached the yeller coach’s station, their body language was much different than it was at any other station. The kids at this station began to mess around and show a disinterest in the drill they were taking part in. Yeller coach continued to yell as the skaters went through the drill. At all of the other stations, the boys were attentive. We then concluded that the players had a lack of interest in the coach, rather than the drills.

While observing, we noticed that while the players were waiting in line for a drill, most of their focus was spent on messing around. Many kids were tripping each other, throwing punches, and just conversing. We made the assumption that because these players are only 10 years old, that this behavior was their way of having fun during a hard practice.

At the end of the practice, the players took their jerseys off, and met in a huddle to do a cheer. We assumed that the cheer brought unity to their team. Once the cheer was over, coaches and players stayed on the ice to pick up pucks, and move the nets. When the zamboni backed out onto the ice, both the players, and the coaches got off of the ice.

IV. Conclusion:


Watching a squirt practice, brings out very many differences between a normal girls’ hockey practice and the average boys’ hockey practice. Most girls at age 10 would not be doing particular things that the boys took part in. Our practices were run from one end of the ice during a skills clinic rather than using the entire ice during the whole practice. Boys actions during their practice were much more aggressive and competitive than any practice that the two of us have taken part in.

The Squirt players all proved to us that they are still deficient in their listening skills, and their attention spans. The players cared about the drills that they were about to attempt, but waiting in line patiently, posed to be a problem. There inability to pay attention while waiting, was something that we looked past when we were making preconceptions. We assumed that it would not be a problem. Even though the players were corrupt to each other during their practice, they all left as one team.

Buffalo Hockey Association has allowed for everyone who is a part of the association, big or small, to be brought together over the common bond of hockey. No matter who can be seen in the Buffalo arena, there are always people there that genuinely care for the sport.