From dynasties to commies

Humanitarians,

Today in class we talked about CHINA! A lot has happened to them since we last saw them; they have rid themselves of their last dynasty, the Qing, had a civil war, become communist, and then finally, have mastered (?? only time will tell ??) the art of a communist government with a capitalistic economy. Get it, China.

hey hey, Chaing Kai-Shek

Make sure from your reading/in class stuff you know/understand The Civil War, The Long March, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution. Plus Tienanmen Square, which in many ways, to me is the most interesting balancing act of modern China. 

great example of Socialist Realism 

Tomorrow, you have a CE over President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland. Enjoy! Afterwards, we will basically cover the entirety of the Cold War. PREPARE YOURSELVES. Practice ducking and covering and revealing which of your classmates are terrible communists. You do also have some WHAP reading due, so make sure you check it.

This day in history!!!!

• 1639: Cambridge College was renamed Harvard University. And Jasper moms began plotting your future.



no one, Paris Gellar, no one

• 1852: "Uncle Sam" cartoon appeared for the first time in NY Lantern weekly. 
• 
• 1868: The Senate began President Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial. The articles of impeachment referenced Johnson's removal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton (STANTON, RELATION?!?!), a violation of the Tenure of Office Act. Fun fact, only two presidents have been impeached (brought to trial), Johnson and Bill Clinton. Both of them were acquitted and kept their office. The one president who may have actually been removed, Richard Nixon, resigned before he was impeached. 
• 1906: Suffragist Susan B. Anthony died
• 
• 1925: Tennessee passed a bill prohibiting the teaching of evolution in public schools. This was upheld by the Supreme Court. (You will learn more about the Scopes Monkey Trial in US). However, later laws were overturned in 1967 & 87; it is now legal. 

• 1972: Britain and China resumed full diplomatic relations after 22 years; Britain withdrew its consolute from Taiwan
• .  

And finally, social media to follow today....

Queen of Luna on instagram. This girlie does cosplay makeup, but using her hijab. It's cool, she's beautiful, you'll like. Check it. 

- cbg

"I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth - and truth rewarded me." - Bae de Beauvoir

Humanitarians,

Happy Ides of March, my friends!

While today in class we did not stab you to death, a la Caesar, we may have destroyed your humanity....juuuuuust a bit, with the ideas of existentialism. Remember, existentialism is the idea that emphsizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses the freedom of choice (here as a negative instead of a positive) and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts. You definitely need to be aware of the major proto-existentialists, Friedrich Nietzsche and Soren Kierkegaard, as well as the major existentialists Jean-Paul Sartre, and bae, Simone de Beauvoir. As you struggle to give your life meaning while questioning all of your religious beliefs, make sure you see how this could have (and definitely did) affect things like literature (CAMUS!), art, and theatre. 

Hannah Arendt is super amazing and wrote a really important book called The Banality of Evil, that I recommend

Tomorrow, you have some WHAP reading due, as we return to the historical part of this period, the Cold War. Remember, though, as we leave philosophy for a bit, nothing happens in a vaccum and the issues that Sartre and de Beauvoir are wrestling with are going to be some of the same ones that Robert MacNamara and Khrushchev, etc wrestle with. They just do it with bombs.

This day in histooooorrrryyyyy!!!!!!!!

• 1493: Christopher Columbus returned to Spain after his first visit to the Western Hemisphere.
• 
• 1937: The first hospital blookd bank in the United States was established, in Chicago, at Cook County Hospital.
• 1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson (shout-out, Texas president!) asked Congress for legislation guaranteeing every American the right to vote. I <3 Johnson, and have heard great things about a local play about him, All the Way, if you are looking for a humanities experience!

• 2003: Hu Jintao was chosen to replace Jiang Zemin as the president of China. 
• 

And today's social media to follow is again on Instagram (pictures are just better than words). It's i'm not a third wheel. A man recognizes he is the perpetual third wheel to his couple friends and hilarity ensues. see if you can find him in every photo!

Happy Tuesday, y'all. Try to find the lie that gives your meaningless life meaning!

- cbg

“Life has no meaning a priori… It is up to you to give it a meaning, and value is nothing but the meaning that you choose.” ― Jean-Paul Sartre

Historians,

Welcome back from Spring Break. Welcome to life after the Daylight Savings time. When can we go back in time??

Today in class, we went over the Larry Springer Show! Whoop Whoop, prepare for drama galore. If you need help, don't understand, or want to know how to dress in the decades, never be scared to ask for help! Unless you have me and Stanton, then ask Virdin. 

lol lol lol, god bless

After deciding who would be Mao, we started in on existentialism. I don't want to give too much away, so tomorrow we will discuss it all including bae, Simone de Beauvoir.

i wanted to draw a heart around Simone, but the internet is hard

TOMORROW, you have a CE!! Don't forget. ABOUT Turkey. The country. And then you have humanities reading due! :)

Soooooo this day in history?!

• 1794: The cotton gin was patented by Eli Whitney. COTTON!
• 
• 1950: The FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list made its debut. Fun fact, over the break, I made The Stranger Beside Me about Ted Bundy (serial killer and former member of the FBI's Most Wanted List) and I was scared that I would be serial killed. However, it was great and I highly recommend it. 



so. scary. 

• 1958: Perry Como's single "Catch a Falling Star" became the first RIAA gold record. 

• 1964: Jack Ruby was found guilty of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy. He would die of cancer in prison. 

For Social Media to follow, I would like to re-recommend the instagram account texts from your existentialist. It's just so relevant. 

Happy Monday friends. At least we didn't talk about genocide again. 

- cbg out

Spring break. Spring break. Spring break fo'ever

YAY IT IS HERE!! The glorious week that will be filled with rest and sunshine and merriment and all the good feelz and intentional conversations a miniature blonde could ask for. Can you tell I'm excited?!?! Probably not.

Every day conversation with my roommates, who will still be at work. Suckers. 

Gandalf is all of us on March 14. 

As our last activity before spring break, we closed this week by discussing the difference between what is mass murder and what is genocide. According to the UN, here is the official definition for genocide:

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

1. Killing members of the group;
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

Not every country recognizes some of the events from class as genocide, which can obviously be a hot button topic for discussion. For example, here's an map of countries who recognize the Armenian genocide, one of the examples we discussed today in class. 

Don't forget to take care of any HEs (especially if you visit somewhere else) and your short reading assignment if you have some extra time over break...but otherwise, HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK. I hope you have the best week ever and get some quality friends and family time in. And enjoy the sunshine (if it actually comes to Plano). And have a dance party. And go try something new. And have adventures. Love you all!

WE OUT. 

It is finished.

If you are reading this, that means your day of crazy is OVER. DONE. You crushed your Humanities/HGAP/Euro/Math/Science/All the above tests, and you are one day away from Spring Break! So so close.

Spring break is a fantastic time to take care of Humanities Experiences; I know the six weeks just began, but why not knock it out when you have a week of nothing to do but Netflix and wear pajamas all day? Here are a couple of cool events going on over spring break...

• Load up in your Yellow Submarine and head Across the Universe to Dallas for a Beatles Tribute Concert by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra on Friday, March 11, or Saturday, March 12. 
• Go see Jackson Pollock's special exhibit at the DMA if you haven't already...it's almost gone people!
• Continue your study of WWII by visiting the Holocaust Museum downtown. They are doing a special exhibit over Anne Frank until May.
• Texas Ballet Theater is presenting Cinderella. Not the Disney version, but hopefully my favorite character will still make an appearance...

My brother played Gus Gus in a play one time. My heart almost died of cuteness/sister pride. 

AND here are some fun things to do that are NOT Humanities Experiences, but still rad. Get out of the house and try something different!

• Go to 1418 Coffeehouse in Downtown Plano and have a big ole slice of pie from Emporium Pies with a side of intentional conversation (personal fave: The Nutty Honey or Blue Steel). 
• Adventure all the way to the end of Dallas to the Dallas Farmers Market. It's HUGE and has tons of fresh yummy produce, if you like vegetables and fruits and foods that are good for you.
• Like flowers/being outside? Check out the Dallas Arboretum...it should be AWESOME weather...plus it's a good date idea.
• Buy your Beyonce tickets. Cause duh.
• Vance Joy is coming on the 11th! Check out his concert or any others coming next week (Future is coming too...but only go if your parents approve). Plus check out Vance Joy's fro. 
• Free yoga on Saturday at Klyde Warren Park! All my yogis, throw your sun salutation up!

Photo of the day comes from Mongolia...a mother and her child traipse through a massive pile of just picked cotton, which is a vital crop in the region. But let's be real, I just picked this photo for the baby.

SQUISHY

Have a wonderful rest of your Thursday, friends!

There's no time for Stalin...you need to study!

Okay friends, now it's the day to crack down, concentrate, hit the books...whatever study vernacular you want to use, time to focus! We hope today's study time was beneficial for you as you begin to prepare for your test tomorrow; we wanted to give you some structured time as requested on the surveys you all took at the beginning of the year!

Tomorrow's test will cover ALL material since the last quiz from the 4th six weeks: events leading up to WWI, WWI, post WWI (art, effects of the war), and everything surrounding WWII/effects of WWII. All da wars. Don't forget, the test is multiple choice AND short answer, with study guides posted on the website! 

Brah. WOAH.

If you are feeling a study break, here are some ideas...

• Watch the Finding Dory trailer !!!!!!
• Oscar movie posters replaced with cats. This one's for you, Siddiqui. 
• On the Oscar theme, these parents had their kids act out scenes from each Oscar-nominated film. Coolest parents of the year. The Bride of Spies one makes my heart so happy. 
• We hope you have been keeping up with Super Tuesday results, but in case not, here are some takeaways/results. 

For the photo of the day, I wanted to find somewhere relaxing...so here's a photo from a Canadian state park. Good ole Canada.

Is this real life or scene from Star Wars?

Now stop reading the blog and go study! GOOD LUCK!

Nue-remember to Vote

Hey you guys! So sorry for not posting yesterday...

Forgot to blog...whoops.

Today we wrapped up our study of WWII by examining some of the effects of the war through a series of documents, which are also posted on the website.We hope you've enjoyed studying WWII; I personally find it horrifying and fascinating all at once. Tomorrow, bring us your fanciful propaganda posters and then we'll head straight into a structured review activity to prepare you for Thursday's class. Don't forget to send us any questions you have through this link : tinyurl.com/unit6Aquestions. No trolling plz.

Dank meme? Or the frog guy? I still don't understand.

So last week, Mr. Stanton #blessed us with the extended list of WWII films to check out...I hope you guys watched at least one! I wanted to make a list for my book peoples, because if there are a ton of WWII movies out there in the world, there are even MORE books about it. Here are some of my fiction and nonfiction faves, in no particular order (I'm leaving off The Diary of Anne Frank because I'm pretty sure you read it in school? Maybe?):

1. The Nightingale: Guys, seriously, I could not put this book down; it was on almost every "Best Books of 2015" list there was. The story deals with two sisters who live in Nazi-occupied France, both with completely different personalities and completely different ways of getting involved in the resistance. SO GOOD. 
2. All the Light We Cannot See: This book is a Pulitzer Prize winner that tells the story of a young Nazi soldier and a young French girl whose lives intersect in WWII. The French girl, Marie, is also blind, which further complicates the situation when the Nazis invade. 
3. Sarah's Key: Apparently, I REALLY like WWII books set in France, because this one also makes the list. The author seamlessly weaves the story of a Sarah, a French Jew from 1942, with a journalist's story from 2002. The journalist begins to probe into Sarah's story and discovers a personal connection with her.
4. Unbroken: Many of you may have seen the film that was based on this book and came out last year, but we all know the book is always better. Unbroken is a true story of the American soldier Louie Zamperini who becomes a POW in WWII and demonstrates integrity, perseverance, and courage. SUPER inspiring. 
5. The Hiding Place: I'm sure you guys are familiar with Corrie Ten Boom, but she is famous for her work to save Jewish families and her survival of the Nazi concentration camps. Incredibly powerful story, but also incredibly heartbreaking and difficult to read at some parts, so exhibit caution. 

ALSO, today is Super Tuesday, so we will have the results tonight of many of our states' primaries, giving us a good indicator of which candidates will take both parties! It's going down!

Vote 4 Pedro.

Have a WONDERFUL rest of your Tuesday, friends!