C'mon N' Ride the Train

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. And hopefully you were able to spend some quality time with your family and friends and avoid the Black Friday stampedes. I personally was very thankful for the three helpings of stuffing I ate with my family and did some light shopping online.

What Black Friday looks like

I know it's probably easy for our brains to feel like mush after a week off, but as we reminded you in class, it's go time. You have to read a CE for tomorrow,  A Modest Proposal for Wednesday, WHAP Ch. 29 for Thursday, Manatee Tank due next Monday, and a quiz over Unit 5A next Wednesday. SO MANY THINGS. It's okay; we'll get through these things together.

If you're totally relating to the GIF above, it's from the world's best comedy, Arrested Development. This is required viewing over Winter Break. It's literally the best.

Today in class we had you explore certain facets of the industrialization.  Sophomores, you may recall the Agricultural, or Neolithic, Revolution from last year - when people discovered farming for the first time.  In the 18th century Europe underwent the second greatest shift in human history - the Industrial Revolution. Hopefully you were able to work your way through all six stations in class.  To sum up, you should've taken away the following:

• Copious amounts of coal and iron were necessary for industrialization 
• Mechanization first occurred with the textile industry 
• Working kind of sucked! You worked long hours under dangerous conditions with no government regulation 
• The expansion of industrialization led to a revolution in transportation - trains, planes, and automobiles! JKLols - there were no planes yet (Random trivia: the earliest trains traveled a whopping 20 mph - 3x faster than a stagecoach!) But don't forget ships...this will be important when we get to Imperialism next semester
• The economic disparities resulted in an empowered middle class and a defeated working class (proletariat)
• The Second Industrial Revolution provided more recognizable innovations for us today - electricity, automobiles, steel, etc. 

Since it's the holiday season, I thought I'd include my favorite Christmas song (I don't celebrate Christmas, but I enjoy the holiday season like the next person - gimme alllllll the red Starbucks cups!).

I'm also very partial to Mariah Carey's original

And here's a scene from one of my favorite Christmas movies, Elf. 

- Warrior Princess Siddiqui