Compete

I am writing this blog no inspiration at all, so I go and check my friend’s blog and then I found Christina Falero. I click on the name and read; she asks herself why did she get a failing grade on her paper? Well I am sure I can´t answer the question or judge it but what is see here is an example of the selfish gene. She is clearly upset that she wasted her time and gave it her best. This is what Dawkins has been saying all along, competition. If she were the only one in Mr. Tangen class, she probably would not have felt what she did, because she could have not compared herself. “In a large and complex system of rivalries, removing one rival from the scene does not necessarily do any good: other rivals may be more likely to benefit from his death than oneself.”(pg68) this quote taken out of context but for me it showed the clear answer or explanation of Christina’s feelings. She is obviously sad because comparing with her friends she was not the best, she feels or should feel rivalry against all of us who did get good grade. However, what I think is that in a large complex of rivalry like is our school, which is full of over achievers and perfectionists, she is questioning the rivalry system. “I actually read the stupid book, and thoroughly checked to make sure my quotes all made sense. In addition, in the end you fail me, and all I could think was "What did I do wrong?" (Crysitna faleros blog honesty of truth) when she asks the what did I do wrong, she is simply saying why is there competition and because she did not get a good grade or benefit herself she is sad. This is an example of survival, she just happens to be the plant that cannot move the example of defeated by rivals. She shows competition, which in the end is what the selfish gene is about surviving, and evolution. Christina is another victim of overachievers in the school a sign that competition is what matters to all of us, and what motive us. I believe that she is now prepared to give her all best to survive for the next essay.

Plant Diary

I am here, something that can´t be changed. I am who I am. The why is out of my understanding. I move slowly and unnoticeable to others, I live, I breathe, I see the sun. We “plants move, but very slowly.” (pg47) I see the animals every day in the meadow, they move so fast and quickly, they reverse their actions and repeat them many times. Sometimes I wonder if I can ever do that, take a step back. However, I have tried and it seems impossible. When I wonder why am I here my parents yell at me and tell me that pants just are. Before I see the sun fade I think of what would have happen if I was an animal, or those big creatures who give me water when I lack of it, who five my air. My mom says we have to help them but I simply do not like them one bit. I believe they do not see us for what I am. My mom and dad do not like to talk or even express themselves they are just there without any motivation, I for a change am always thrilled to see the sun the worms that pass by me the animals and most important the blue sky, it inspires me. Sometimes I think I do not fit in, my friends do not talk to me and they always say cruel jokes like you are a plant and “plants have no need for a neuron” (pg48). I tell them I want a neuron, and that I want more than just “living without moving around” (pg 48) but they can´t understand and they make me cry. I cry not only because my friends do not like me but also because I am upset. “Natural selection favored animals…and they became equipped with sense organs, and devices which translate patterns of physical events in the outside world” (pg 49). Doesn´t that seem unfair to you I have none of that things I wish I were an animal! Oh and what I envy the most is memory! I wish I had one just like the pale white creatures. In addition, what is worst of all is that I am not a survival machine meaning that I have more or less 3 months of live and then I die. Meaningless and sad. Oh, I wish it were morning again so I could see the blue sky! However, life is selfish and those genes they are indeed the most selfish of all. Alas, my genes are not as selfish as those of an animal!

I Want To Sleep!

“Incidentally, there is of course no ‘architect’. The DNA instructions have been assembled by natural selection.” (pg 23) have you ever asked a science teacher if they believe in god? The most common answer is a no, ‘no architect’ no god… things were predisposed and naturally selected, as for the best survive, we are a prove of survival, though not for long in we destroy the world from global warming. I just came back from leadership, we did social service as something normal. Today however we did something completely random trying to save the world (unselfish off course) we planted 400 trees in a mountain to help with the deforestation and took part of a project to educate campers on how to save the rivers and lakes. We took a small step in the direction of reforesting the mountain we were acting like DNA “making proteins may seem a far cry from making a body, but it is the first small step in that direction.”(pg 23) I am a protein that helped and took a small step on to helping the world. Did I have a choice? No, is a part of being in leadership that we have to help others, but I did choose to join leadership because in my genes there is a need for overachievement. I am trying to study in the states therefore I need things on my application, did I have a choice? No, I would say more of pressure from family, who can’t seem to understand that “knowledge and wisdom you acquire during your life not one jot will be passed on to your children by genetic means.”(pg23) so this is a cry for help, to my parents who do not understand that I give all my energy on to pleasing them in my grades at school, that I have a need for overachievement for acceptance in my house. I am tired of a camping trip, full of bruises and falls yet I need to do my homework, and although I tried my mom is still angry at me for not doing my homework before the trip, but I did. She can’t seem to understand that I take more classes than English, although none help me express my thoughts. I still have one more thing to do, analyze the chapter and the book, because if do not then this writing was done in vain.

“They do not plan ahead. Genes just are, some genes more so than others, and that is all there is to it.”(pg 24). This quote somehow answers the question I did in the begging no science teacher believes in god because the things are just what they are humans are genetically arranged therefore are what they are and there is no afterlife, no planning just our bodies. I strongly disagree with what I just said, there is no reason for a science teacher to have no faith if science and god are two things that are separated genes may be, but the soul and the reason are another. Right now, my reason tells me to go to bed and eat something good, not rubber like meat, but my selfish gene tells me to keep writing. I can’t help to decide with reason to end this blog and go to bed.

Choice Or No Choice?

The selfish gene got me thinking of free will, if there is such thing as one. If we are genetically selfish then do we have a right or a choice to be kind and unselfish? “”our genes may instruct us to be selfish, but we are not necessarily compelled to obey them all our lives.”(pg3) notice the words all our lives, this sentence could be an explanation for selfishness, next time someone asks me to think of others I can simply answer my genes are telling me not too and I have to follow the path of evolution. For what I have read so far I believe this book is questioning our human existence, why is it that we tell ourselves that we are the smartest creatures of earth. Some say we have a choice, which is the thing that separates us from animals, but the book itself says that there is a relationship with our genes and our actions, (which we have no choice on our genes, being red-haired or blue-eyed) then we are compelled to follow our genetics therefore our actions. So I have to question the existence of a god, there can’t be such thing, as faith or destiny simply because we follow our genes path, and if there is a god it should be Darwin who developed his theory of evolution and human behavior “social Darwinism”.
Why do we drink cow’s milk and not zebra’s and why is it that we do not see a zebra drinking horse milk. We humans do everything so differently from animals, call ourselves unique and advanced; however we are the guilty ones for global warming, not a cow? So in the end did we drive global warming by choice or by genetics?
Are we stable creatures, “a stable thing is a collection of atoms that is permanent enough or common enough to deserve a name.” (pg 12) notice that we use the word stable for emotions, am I stable as a person, I am common and permanent and have a name. This is the first time I heard this definition of the word, when I use the word stable I think either of love or human emotions. “Sometimes when atoms meet they link up together in a chemical reaction to form molecules, which may be more or less stable.”(pg 13) love is not a choice it is chemical, and in love one is stable or not. If my parents got a divorce I could simply blame the fact that the molecules where not common enough to deserve a name. Moreover, people who say we have a choice at love, I think we do not I think love happens because It was meant to (by molecules off course not destiny) and people simply click, that is why you can’t force it but help it.
So do we have a choice? how many sides of evolution are they? Can this book relate to the common good? How should I act now?

Class Argument

“That is very well put, said Andrea but we must go and work our garden.” Said the teacher.
“How can I possibly cultivate my garden” Asked andrea to the teacher.
“well our garden, has the best of both worlds” said the teacher
“with all due respect, sir, your being irrelevant here, your optimism is kind of ironic to Eden´s garden, this statement just changed my whole view of the best of worlds, you sound like Hannah Montana and you add a boredom to the statement, what you have been explaining in the class of destiny is that we have no control whatsoever but now you implying that we have to cultivate our garden therefore saying that is up to us. And this is completely irrelevant to the novel, but is a perfect ending it contradicted what I had been saying all along and I think you should reconsider your thoughts sir.
“how dare you’”
“how dare you? I have just expressed my thoughts on what I think is right and it seems to be that you are ignoring the fact that this novel is a piece of satire therefore it can´t be taken seriously, and I have to question or state better that Pangloss was wrong throughout the novel. Even his name is contradicting, he wants s optimism yet his name suggests loss.”
“Go to the office”
“Sure thing, but I can´t get punished for my analysis on the book.”

Candide In El Dorado

Candide and Cacambo have reached El Dorado. Wow! Men wasted their lives searching for this city, which is one of the reasons we gained independence. And all of sudden Cacambo find this lost city, this reminded me of Pirates Of The Caribbean. In this movie we have Jack Sparrow, who is in the Davy Jones locker, and his friends went to find him. This place is for dead and is a place lost in time, to find the place you need to be lost. I believe that by dumb luck, Cacambo and Candide found this place. When you are new to a place you make different analyzes and expand your views, which is why people who travel more have a different view of the world. Voltaire may have use the finding of El Dorado as a way to express or amplify the topic of political views mocked. In this place what we find of material importance are the same as a plain rock in the ground which kind of mocks the idea of optimism and death, what seems important is not. So if we have optimism for money we find this world where is not worth it. I also believe that Voltaire was making a point and mocking those who lost their lives on finding gold. “Brittan plans to send 500 more soldiers to Afghanistan” war is being promoted and in this case being optimistic that with 500 more soldiers there is a chance of maybe winning or helping the war. But in Afghanistan the values of life are different than in Britain and El Dorado is a very different place to where either Candide or Cacambo have been a cultural clash. And those soldiers who are going to Afghanistan may expand their thoughts like Candide.

Aladdin's Magical Whole New World: And Its' Relation To Candide.

Today’s assignment is to link whatever we write to a youtube video, so I did!
In Candide we see people who are dead and later appear alive a forbidden love due to lack of royal relatives, a bad dude! It is like a whole new world. Candide kills Cunegonde’s brother and he escapes to a new world where monkeys are women’s lovers, Cacambo helps him and does miracles for Candide. This story is just like Aladdin, Cacambo is Candide’s genie, and Aladdin is supposedly dead but appears alive to share his love with jasmine. I am guessing that that is what is going to happen with Cunegonde and Candide. Cunegonde is royalty like Jasmine, Candide and Aladdin are poor and no royal relatives, they both pretend to be something they are not and they both kill someone Aladdin kills Jaffar and well Candide kills allot of people. The magic carpet can be the old woman who takes them to place-to-place and makes love happen between them. Jaffar can also represent the Bulgars, the Jesuits and all the bad persons in the book. And Candide has a sword just like Aladdin does. It is perfect and weird how to a children’s book can relate to An adult’s comedy.

Stay dead! Please!

I have had it with this book! How many times do dead people appear alive! It is creepy and yes, and what kind of book are we reading all that I can think of is if any of my dead relatives are coming soon, it gives false hopes to children. and yes I sometimes consider myself as a child, I am naïve and if it weren’t for my brother I would probably believe in Santa Claus. Mr. Tangen with all due respect this book was like Christina Mejia told me when I was little, and by that I mean the fourth grade that she happened to be my Spanish teacher in Medellin. “First time funny, second time silly, third time stupid, fourth time punch” here I would like to replace punch for freaked out! “Are you really lovely Cunegonde’s brother, your reverence?” (Candide pg64) all I can expect know is maybe Pangloss appearing all of a sudden, and be like, yeah I was hanged but I turns out that my neck really did not break while I was hanged it seemed as, and magically a doctor examined my body found out how I was not dead and fixed me! Yes! Hurray life is not bad everybody who dies appears later on! Or who knows maybe Cunegonde’s parents appear. And maybe even better after Candide “kills” Cunegonde’s brother he will live, and tell everything to everybody. the target here could be religious people, or witches who bring people back to dead! I am way to freaked out to discuss target!
and the picture i posted, that was my reaction!

Old Women: To Die Or Not To Die

After the old women tells her story, which I got surprised in how such bad stories can happen in a satirical book. All of a sudden, she explains how she thought of suicide “hundred times I wanted to kill myself, but always I loved life more. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our worst instincts; is anything more stupid than choosing to carry a burden that really one wants to cast on the ground? To hold existence in horror, and yet to cling to it? To fondle the serpent which devours us till it has eaten out our heart? —In the countries through which I have been forced to wander, in the taverns where I have had to work, I have seen a vast number of people who hated their existence; but I never saw more than a dozen who deliberately put an end to their own misery.”(Candide pg53) the question of why more unfortunate people don’t kill themselves is rational in this book were everything is sad stories which we mock, the auto-da-fe the earthquake, Cunegonde’s story. In past times and still today the Church forbids suicide she might have been following but it would be ironic, that she is a sin herself being born from the pope itself the bastard child, so technically she is bound to go to hell. After suffering such harsh experiences I would guess that the old woman’s’ thoughts are to be that nothing can be worse to what she has already lived so if killing herself is as sin, hell can’t be worse than life so why stop living? This seems like a good idea which kind of goes along with Pangloss way of thought, optimistic. I don’t really have clear why did the old women decide to live but perhaps is because all is for the best and she was bound to meet with Candide (I was trying to be funny there, because I do not believe in faith). She might also not believe in an afterlife and her mention of the serpent may be referring, to Adam and Eve, the sin of life. The fact that she questions it proves that she does not believe. This is also ironic because with a parent that belonged to the church she should believe it. But anyway allot of questions came up to me as I read this, one thing I can say, congratulations old women you if it weren’t for you maybe this whole story in the book would not have happened, you are very important good thing you decided to live!

Mute Movie

Hi, my name is Andrea Moseres and I am the producer/actor/editor of the mute movie you see below..
I decided to make something fun for homework, because I do not like getting bored and the work is better when you give it your dedication than when you do it just because. The name a mute movie is due to that the other day we were in class and Mr. Tangen said that is ok to include videos as long as you write so instead of talking I write. I found out you can do video essay’s I do not really know how to, but if you can do video essay why not do a video blog. I am presenting chapters 8, 9, 10 and 11. Which is the biggest homework yet but here I go.
Chapter 8 tells us about Cunegonde’s story, I did not really find anything funny but more of absurdity or hyperbole. “A Bulgar captain came in. He noticed that I was bleeding and that the soldier made no attempt to move. This lack of respect for an officer so enraged the captain that he slew the brute across my body.” (Candide pg. 41) it is a lack of respect to not attend to a wound but it is okay to kill an entire family, this part gave me the creeps I realized Voltaire really means what he says. The funniest part of the book yet is, when after Candide killed the Jew and the inquisitor he and Cunegonde go to the old woman for advice. She tells them that they have to flee to Cadiz and all of a sudden, she says, “the weather could not be finer, and we shall enjoy traveling in the cool of the night.”(Candide pg 46) excuse me, I do not know If heard well but you are criminals you should be running, and you are talking about the weather which is the most common small talk. Do you even have time for a small talk? Noo.. you don’t run away! It was funny..
When I got to chapter ten, I saw that Cunegonde and Candide are just kids. They complain about everything, the old women finally acts like a mom and tells them to shut up! However, it was about time, and this is ironic because it contradicts all that Pangloss had to say about optimistic, they are turning in to suicidal. “but I have been so terribly unfortunate in my affairs, that I have lost almost all hope.” The way you both complain!” exclaimed the old women.” (Candide pg49)
I could not find a better way to do homework, and Candide is a very satirical book that I am enjoying so I wanted everybody to see how if the book can be satirical and fun why can’t the blogs be as fun as reading a book.
There are no credits but to me because my dearest brother or mother or father or maid did not want help me in the production of the video.

Death, Kind, love, Cruel

Is there such thing as heresy? Who decides whether your way of thinking is wrong and mine is right? “Two Portuguese Jews who had refused to eat bacon with their chicken; and after dinner dr. Pangloss and his pupil, Candide, were arrested as well” (pg36) intolerance is seen in the earliest of times, and I believe is a problem that cannot be solved as much as we try. People say the holocaust was terrible and I agree it was dreadful, but so is burning people alive to prevent an earthquake. Voltaire mocks allot the religions, the Anabaptist who is more concerned on drafting people to his religion than the religion itself. When Pangloss says that everything happens for a reason then why is it that people as innocent as children die, and have to pay the price of people´s intolerance. Instead of laughing in this chapter, I got sentimental, thoughtful.
I give Voltaire the right to laugh, and ridicule all the religions as possible because in the end we all kill in the name of something we do not know it exists, and we can never be sure. Yet in at the begging of chapter seven this old kind woman helps Candide. So it is at this times where I can´t understand kindness and evil, it makes no sense at all how after all of sadness Candide finds cunegonde and it all seems like a fairytale. Sometimes I can´t understand the world, so I give up trying and start appreciating more and more what I have.

A Wierd Way To Do Homework

“Hey what are you doing?”Mary said
“No not much you?”Andrea responded to Mary.
“Hey, so check this out I was reading Candide right? And I was in the part were um Pangloss gets syphilis and I don´t get it.”
“Oh, yes! My dearest Pangloss, I am forever in debt with him. He enlightened me on how we have to thank those who have syphilis, because if it were not for them there would be no such thing as chocolate.”
“Wait dude, your optimistic theory, is way creepy. If everything happens for a reason, I am implying that is what you are saying. Then in theory I could sit my life in a couch and wait for life to happen.” Mary said with confidence
“Okay no, that is not what I meant, but instead I was saying that we should be thankful for what we have and see there is a side to… um… Yeah”
“That does not make sense”
“I know I got carried away, it was absurd”
“So you never answered by question, you did not even let me finish it. So what I don´t get is how syphilis was cured at the time it says, “During treatment, Pangloss lost only an eye and an ear” (pg31) how did he get cured?”
Well sweetie you are not getting the book is satire, Voltaire is making fun of the cure is absurd as well as Pangloss theory.”
“well good point, but something I still do not understand is that, it says how James the Anabaptist, off course Anabaptism is considered as heresy in the 17th century and the Amish descend of this religion, since they rejected any conventional Christian believes such as wedding rings and oaths.”
“What is your question?”
“Oh nothing I just did not understand Anabaptism so I though neither did you, so I quoted the meaning and included a picture”

Fortunate Candide...

Has there ever been such thing as love? Why is that we believe that love works? Now more than ever, the divorce rate has gone up, is more common to find someone with divorced parents than married. There used to be no such thing as a divorce, because there was no love we married by interest. “Whom the young lady would never agree to marry because he could only claim seventy-one-quarterings” (pg 1) this was a common thing to do, reject someone because he did not have enough relatives to claim as royal. Imagine if I did that, it would be considered absurd, it was at this point where I realized this was satire. Although it had been explained in class how Voltaire used satire, I opened the book and start reading, I was bored wanted to play Farmville on facebook, and then it came to me, enjoy the book! So I kept reading, and I ask why did this fair lady did not marry the baron when he “was one of the most influential noblemen in Westphalia for his house had a door and several windows.” (pg1) I mean wow, I will take in consideration before I get married, my husband has to have more than seventy one royal relatives and his house needs to include a window and a door, and I will make sure that even if I love him and he does not have this I will think that my fortune is not made.

This is a beautiful time I would certainly like to live in, there is no hope of love and where there happens to be a spark of it, like it happened to Candide and lady Courgone, it is broken. Maybe Candide did not own enough doors, but he sure found his fortune when he was drafted to war, war “your fortune is made. Go where glory waits you. And with that they clapped him into irons and hauled him off to the barracks.” (pg23) Now could his life get better? Heartbroken and in war oh well I doubt it.