Immortals by Mara Rusu is a rhymed poem that explores Mother Nature vs Humanity, human hubris, and the environment. This poem explores the depths of the inquiry question: How does our environment or where we come from define us? It also incorporates the powerful video “I am Nature.” Together, they demonstrate the idea that nature is something so much more powerful than human’s think it is. Coming from an enviorment and society of greed, and hubris affects humanity and mother nature greatly.
In the chapter Weeksboro, Maine, Alex is trying to get her friend Steph a boyfriend. Steph is representing the science and logical side of life, the concrete things which can be measured, the tangible. She doesn’t want to have a boyfriend, she doesn’t believe in love, an unseen force. On the other hand, Alex represents the intangible, love, imagination, and hope etc. The theme in this chapter is unseen forces, what Alex represents, but by the end, they both believe in. The two girls go to the spot where the whirligig is, and Alex starts guiding Steph through a guided visual journey, wishing to the Whirligig that Steph gets a boyfriend. As Alex is wishing, Steph starts to go along with it, she’s still sceptical about it, but she really listens to what Alex is saying. Alex tries to convince Steph that the whirligig is powerful and can help her. “Thoughts are powerful. They’re the seeds of events. By thinking something, we can help make it happen.” Page 25. This quote is important, because it describes the idea that something intangible (imagination, creativity, the idea), has to be there first in order to create something tangible (science, math, inventions). This relates to the question, “Why do we only focus on the tangible or the material in our culture?” We need both tangible and intangible objects in our lives, because that’s how inventions are created. Every great invention came from an idea. After Alex is done her visual guide, Steph finds love, the brother of the boy who was spying on them. Proving that unseen forces can overpower the tangible. “But just in case unseen forces do exist, I pay my respects to them by keeping the whirligig painted and repaired.” Page 32 . This quote confirms that Steph believes in the unseen force that the whirligig held. It changed Steph’s life and helped her find her “heart’s joy” and now she believes in its higher power. In conclusion, the two- intangible and tangible need to work together for humans and ideas to move forward.
I think letting go and moving on is necessary for happiness and peace. However, forgiveness is not. This photo perfectly explains what I am trying to say, forgiveness is for the other person to have peace; But just because I have forgiven someone, does not mean that I am happy or at peace. If someone apologizes and asks for my forgiveness, I will most likely give it to them, but I will not move on right away. Personally, it takes time for me to be able to move on. I cannot forgive someone who does not ask for my forgiveness, and It takes me a long time to move on from that type of situation. On the other side, when I know that I am wrong in a situation, I will apologize. However, it is difficult for me to apologize to someone when they don’t tell me that they are upset or mad at me, and I have to figure it out by myself. As humans, we automatically want revenge, or to “get back at them.” I think restorative justice is something that I wouldn’t be able to do. I don’t usually get revenge, but once someone does something that hurts me, I don’t trust them as much as I used to. However, on a larger scale, for example, the situation in “Walking after midnight,” I don’t know how I would react. If something that big happened in my life, I don’t think I would be able to forgive the person. And without forgiveness, it would be difficult to move on. However, I don’t think I would want to see the criminal executed, or in pain, because that wouldn’t provide me with any closure. Overall, it is difficult for me to move on from a drastic situation, and because I never have been in such a serious and devastating place I don’t know how I would react. I do believe in the idea of restorative justice, and that I could help someone who has done wrong in someone else’s life, but not if that person did wrong in mine.
Did you hear about the new product?
Yeah, the one that’s being sold at Walmart.
It’s astounding, amazing, appealing,
Only 9.99, made especially for children.
If you’re busy, need time,
Here’s an app, let them go tap
Give them another application,
While you go away on a vacation
Soccer? Basketball? Swimming?
No, just scrolling and sitting.
The human race is like a crazy card game,
And we’re all just aces and spades.
Played by the same card holder,
Corporations, and stock brokers.
Where society is the queen
Like a crazy machine
Manufacturing all the screens.
That we now live our life on.
But let me tell you something.
“Technology is our life now.” We all said.
But it’s not a life,
if we’re all brain dead.
The mushrooms are women (not just women, but all the oppressed), in this poem.
“Diet on water, on crumbs of shadow, Bland-mannered, asking. Little or nothing. So many of us!
So many of us!” This line is referring to all the women who live in the shadows, not being able to have any power or leadership. In “The Friday Everything Changed,” the boys were always the ones who got to carry the water bucket, not the girls. The poem and the story are both inspiring change and nothing is going to happen overnight, but slowly more and more change is happening.
Engraving based on a drawing by Champlain of his 1609 voyage. It depicts a battle between Iroquois and Algonquian tribes near Lake Champlain. Source
Champlain built the “habitation” which was part fort and part village in 1608 at the site of present-day Québec City (courtesy John Ross Robertson Coll/Metropolitan Toronto Library). Source
Opening page of a letter from Quebec City, a La Rochelle merchant involved in maritime trade with New France. Source
Jesuits and Hurons
Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons: construction of the Jesuit mission, began in 1639 (courtesy Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons Historical Site).
French and Indian War: blockade of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, engraving, An English engraving from 1775 celebrating the blockade of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, during the French and Indian War. Source
This painting by James Peachy is called “A View of the Bridge over the Berthier River, 1785.” Source
Interior of Habitant Farmhouse by Cornelius Krieghoff Source
English vs France
Map of the layout of the Louisbourg Fortress Source
French and Indian War: blockade of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, engraving, An English engraving from 1775 celebrating the blockade of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, during the French and Indian War. Source
Seven Years War
Siege of Louisburg during French and Indian War Source
The death of General Wolfe, pained in 1763 by Edward Penny Source Crossroads Pg. 67
This 1797 engraving is based on a sketch made by Hervey Smyth, General Wolfe’s aide-de-camp during the siege of Quebec. A view of the taking of Quebec, 13th September 1759. Source
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