Self Evaluation :D

My writing demonstrates appropriate ideas and content in Alchemist essay, because I clearly stated my ideas, appearing to know the topic well and I also included many interesting details. For example, I explained well how Santiego's determination made him achieve his goals: Determination gives Santiego strength and courage to continue his odyssey and to overcome any obstacles that he may encounter. But in Julius Caeser essay, though my details were interesting, I didn't explain how my quotations relate to the main idea of the paragraph. I could improve my writing to better express my ideas and enhance content by choosing suitable and making-sense quotations and explainig well about it. Also I have to focus on topic, not going off.
My writing demonstrates appropriate organization in Alchemist essay, because my body paragraphs always begin and end with clear topic and summarizing sentences. And I have a strong conclusion, repeating and summarizing all the things I have said. But in Julius Caeser essay, I don't have a strong conclusion. I tend to bring up different idea and even though my body paragrphs' begginings and endings look good, I don't have a clear thesis statement. I could improve my writing to demonstrate superior organization by making sure that my conclusion sums up everything in the essay, and establishing context prior to introducing a quotation.
I hoped to make an improvement between Alchemist essay and Julius Caeser essay. However, I did not, because I chose not appropriate quotes, which was very important, in Julius Caeser essay and went off topic a lot. I organized my ideas so well that I was proud of it in Alchemist essay, but my organization did not work as good as that in Juliust Caeser essay. And the ideas and content were not satisfactory in Julius Caeser essay.
I communicated effectively in my essays because I stated my ideas and tried to make readers undeterstad it. And I had a clear thesis statement so that I can communicate well with the readers.

Brutus, an honorable and patirotic man

Brutus, an honorable and patriotic man

“If it be aught toward the general good, Set honour in one eye, and death I’ th’ other, And I wil look on both indifferently; for let the gods so speed me as I love The name of honour more than I fear death.” (p33) Brutus valued honor and loved his country, Rome, so much that he was ready to die for the good of Rome. These factors motivated him to reach for his goal, unifying Rome, by assassinating Caesar. Thus, Brutus an honorable and patriotic man, justified all he did because It was for Rome.
Brutus is mainly motivated by his esteem the honor in which that he keeps trying to justify his act by this reasonable motivation. It motivates him constantly since it’s the most valuable thing in Brutus himself, and also because he has a thought that someone in Rome should be honorable in able to make Rome Republic rather than it being ruined by a tyrant without any honor, so he decides himself to be honorable. He believes that honor will be a lot helpful for him to reach his goal: unifying Rome. However, because of his too high esteem in honor, it becomes so easy for tactical conspirators to manipulate him to bring him to their side. As soon as Brutus joins the conspiracy and leads people in it, he emphasizes that it should be not allowed to murder Caesar in a dishonorable fashion. He mentions Caesar needs to be treated like a human being. Even after the assassination of Caesar, Brutus disagrees with conspirators’ plan of killing Antony, who is the closest to Caesar, because he believes it is a dishonorable act that is unnecessary. “And, gentle friends, let’s kill him boldly, but not wrathfully; Let’s carve him as a dish fit for the gods, Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds.” (p 74) Brutus says Caesar must be a sacrifice for gods and not a carcass that their act is justifiable. Brutus believes it wouldn’t be honorable to kill him angrily with jealousy hence he keeps telling conspirators to be proud of themselves that they’re just sending Caesar as a sacrifice for gods, for the good of Rome. It indicates Brutus’ high respect in honor so that he considers everything he does really carefully in the way to make sure that it is all honorable. He also tells Romans at the beginning of his funeral speech, “Believe me for mine honour, and have respecProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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to mine honour, that you may believe.” (p128) He wants to make sure that everyone knows the significance of his honor in what he has done. He surely thinks all he has done is honorable and all Romans should understand it. It becomes obvious that he is so motivated by honor all the time and it makes him think he is doing the right thing and it leads him to never stop to reach his goal.
Brutus is very patriotic and he does not even fear death if it is for the good of Rome. He believes true Romans should love Rome, and be patriotic. His patriotism makes him strongly believe that Roman Empire should be in a republic and not tyranny for its own good. He worries that the Roman citizens would lose their freedom once a tyrant leads them. This justifies the act of killing Caesar as well since he knows that if Caesar becomes a king, the Roman Empire will be weakened and seized so that it will never get to be unified. So finally he kills Caesar just for his country Rome and after Caesar’s death, he explains to the public even though he loved Caesar, he loves Rome more and he is afraid that the Roman public would lose their voice, liberty because of Caesar’s ambitions. “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men?” (p128) He is letting Romans know that these are all for Rome and that Brutus himself with others have done it with the motivation of patriotism. As he says how he cares about Romans and his endless love for Rome, commoners get easily persuaded that the assassination was the righteous thing. “If these be motives weak, break off bedtimes; … countrymen, What need we any spur but our own cause To prick us to redress? What other bond Than secret Romans, that have spoke the word, And will not palter?” (p70) He tells conspirators if killing Caesar is just for their own good, they should stop planning everything. It better be the good of Rome and the motive of patriotism because all of them, as Romans, are bonded to each other to protect Rome. He, being patriotic, keeps trying to do anything he can do for Rome and he is so confident in himself that his and other Romans’ patriotism will make Rome a Republic that is unified.
Brutus’ internal conflict has caused lots of tension and his motivations that are honor and patriotism. These have motivated Brutus to not give up for his goal and kept him in his confidence with all the reasonable justifications. But at last, He does not achieve his goal, which was to save Rome itself and the citizens. Brutus loses his attempt to keep Rome a republic. His commitment to honor repeatedly leads him to making wrong decisions. I believe his goal is not noble because in the end, public refuses him. He did not achieve his goal at all. And truly honorable man would really know what the benefit would be for others and not be easily manipulated. Because all he has planned and his goals were unworthy, he loses everything. Even his wife Portia kills herself. He gets thrown out of Rome that he loved so much; no one wants him or respects him. Brutus is honorable but he fails to justify his means, so it was all unworthy and senseless.

Overcoming the Despair. Hope always exists.

I had to make a collage of Lost Boys of Sudan, and I applied all the SLRs into it. First of all, I thought creatively because there are several creative elements in my collage. The shape of my collage is not a rectangle; it is the shape of the country Sudan. I also used colors that show the brightness and hope which were supposed to be my message to others. And, I put feathers on one of the Lost Boys' arms to show that he became free and hopeful just like a bird. I reasoned critically by using the righteous and suitable images and texts. One of them is 'abandoned' which indicates the desert-like Sudan right after the chaos caused by a civil war. One of the images is a Lost Boy playing basketball in America, which shows he tries his best to not forget his own culture in a new culture, and stays optimistic. I also communicated effectively because my collage clearly creates awareness for the Lost Boys' plight. One of the texts is 'help', and it shows all the conflicts and hardships they went through like death, hunger etc. This collage also reflects me living ethically because my collage demonstrates empathy and evokes emotional responses from my viewers, inciting them to act. There are lots of pictures showing Sudanese having a hard time, and them trying their best to assimilate into a new culture. We need to help them, giving them even more of a 'hope' and make them have a good life. That is also like the most significant message in my collage.

Lost Boys- Peter

Having watched the film "last boys", I can now understand the struggles, challenges and dangers Sudanese refugees went through since the civil war between north and south of Sudan and how some of them tried their best to fit in new culture in a new country, America. The last boys were all sent to the refugee camp at first after the horrible and cruel war, and then a few went to America for a new life. Peter was one of them, and he was sent to Huston in the beginning. Peter was very disappointed, because it was not like 'heaven' as described in Sudan. Peter was also not satisfied with that place because what he wanted the most was education and it was not available there. So he moved to Kansas and only then he was able to get a proper education by enrolling and studying in a high school. But still, he was having a hard time since he had to work to earn his own money. His schedules were always the same: waking up, going to school, going to work, making himself a dinner, doing homework, going to bed and it just repeated everyday. While he was adapting to this new culture in Kansas, he found out many cultural differences between Sudan and America as well. For example, when he was gathered with other Christians to sing and pray for god, he realized it's so different from his religion. Another difficulty for him was racism and stereotypes from others. He thought everyone was thinking him as someone bad or someone who is going to hurt people just because he was darker than them.

The thing he did to try to fit in new culture was first of all, getting along with others. He did not only hang out with people from his group, Sudanese, but also hung out with others who had different cultures, and tried to be friends with them. He played basketball in free time because he liked it. He wanted to spend time with people who had a common interest with him, and it became easier for him to make friends as playing basketball. He also joined in a church and followed some of their rituals. But after all, the most important thing was his determination, which propelled him to seek ways to earn money and improve on everything. Without his persistence, he would haven't been able to survive in a new culture that was unexpected.