Period 1 Blog #8

Your comment post should be at least 300 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Write a ghost/Halloween story that follows a clear plot line and has at least 2 examples of metaphor/simile, personification and foreshadowing.

Period 3 Blog #8

Your comment post should be at least 300 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Prior to reading Poe’s short story your task is to create a modern horror story.

*Your story should include all the elements of good writing:

            Plot, Setting, Characters and Climax/Resolution

*Also try to mimic Gothic style by including elements of:

            Suspense, Drama, Fear and Mystery ( USE YOUR NOTES!!!)

Period 4/5 Blog #8

Your comment post should be at least 300 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Prior to reading Poe’s short story your task is to create a modern horror story.

*Your story should include all the elements of good writing:

            Plot, Setting, Characters and Climax/Resolution

*Also try to mimic Gothic style by including elements of:

            Suspense, Drama, Fear and Mystery ( USE YOUR NOTES!!!)

Period 9/10 Blog #8

Your comment post should be at least 300 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Write a ghost/Halloween story that follows a clear plot line and has at least 2 examples of metaphor/simile, personification and foreshadowing.

Period 11 Blog #8

Your comment post should be at least 300 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Prior to reading Poe’s short story your task is to create a modern horror story.

*Your story should include all the elements of good writing:

            Plot, Setting, Characters and Climax/Resolution

*Also try to mimic Gothic style by including elements of:

            Suspense, Drama, Fear and Mystery ( USE YOUR NOTES!!!)

Period 1 Blog #7

Your comment post should be at least 280 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Have you ever faced a challenge in your life? Did you overcome it? What was the whole experience like? What did you feel during and after your struggle?

In “Is a Life Without Struggle Worth Living?” Adam Etinson writes:

In the autumn of 1826, the English philosopher John Stuart Mill suffered a nervous breakdown — a “crisis” in his “mental history,” as he called it.

Since the age of 15, Mill had been caught firmly under the intellectual spell of his father’s close friend, Have you ever faced a challenge in your life? Did you overcome it? What was the whole experience like? What did you feel during and after your struggle?

In “Is a Life Without Struggle Worth Living?” Adam Etinson writes:

In the autumn of 1826, the English philosopher John Stuart Mill suffered a nervous breakdown — a “crisis” in his “mental history,” as he called it.

Since the age of 15, Mill had been caught firmly under the intellectual spell of his father’s close friend, Jeremy Bentham. Bentham was a proponent of the principle of utility — the idea that all human action should aim to promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number. And Mill devoted much of his youthful energies to the advancement of this principle: by founding the Utilitarian Society (a fringe group of fewer than 10 members), publishing articles in popular reviews and editing Bentham’s laborious manuscripts.

Utilitarianism, Mill thought, called for various social reforms: improvements in gender relations, working wages, the greater protection of free speech and a substantial broadening of the British electorate (including women’s suffrage).

There was much work to be done, but Mill was accustomed to hard work. As a child, his father placed him on a highly regimented home schooling regime. Between the ages of 8 and 12, he read all of Herodotus, Homer, Xenophon, six Platonic dialogues (in Greek), Virgil and Ovid (in Latin), and kept on reading with increasing intensity, as well as learning physics, chemistry, astronomy, and mathematics, while tutoring his younger sisters. Holidays were not permitted, “lest the habit of work should be broken, and a taste for idleness acquired.”

Not surprisingly, one of the more commonly accepted explanations of Mill’s breakdown at the age of 20, is that it was caused by cumulative mental exhaustion. But Mill himself understood it differently. In his autobiography, he wrote:

I was in a dull state of nerves, such as everybody is occasionally liable to: unsusceptible to enjoyment or pleasurable excitement; one of those moods when what is pleasure at other times, becomes insipid or indifferent… In this frame of mind it occurred to me to put the question directly to myself, ‘Suppose that all your objects in life were realized; that all the changes in institutions and opinions which you are looking forward to, could be completely effected at this very instant: would this be a great joy and happiness to you?’ And an irrepressible self-consciousness distinctly answered, ‘No!’ At this my heart sank within me: the whole foundation on which my life was constructed fell down. All my happiness was to have been found in the continual pursuit of this end. The end had ceased to charm, and how could there ever again be any interest in the means? I seemed to have nothing left to live for.

In the wake of this episode, Mill slipped into a six-month-long depression.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

— In your opinion, is struggle essential to happiness? Have you ever experienced happiness from struggle in your own life?

— Mr. Etinson writes, “Some part of us prefers to struggle or quest after an ideal, rather than attain it.” Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?

— From where do you draw happiness? From striving toward some future goal? From peaceful moments of quiet contemplation? From anything else?

— Mill suggests that all human beings are capable of finding joy in peace and normalcy. Do you think this is true? If so, how do you think people can learn to enjoy the quieter moments of life? If not, why not?

-If so, how do you think people can learn to enjoy the quieter moments of life? If not, why not??

Period 3 Blog #7

Your comment post should be at least 280 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Have you ever faced a challenge in your life? Did you overcome it? What was the whole experience like? What did you feel during and after your struggle?

In “Is a Life Without Struggle Worth Living?” Adam Etinson writes:

In the autumn of 1826, the English philosopher John Stuart Mill suffered a nervous breakdown — a “crisis” in his “mental history,” as he called it.

Since the age of 15, Mill had been caught firmly under the intellectual spell of his father’s close friend, Have you ever faced a challenge in your life? Did you overcome it? What was the whole experience like? What did you feel during and after your struggle?

In “Is a Life Without Struggle Worth Living?” Adam Etinson writes:

In the autumn of 1826, the English philosopher John Stuart Mill suffered a nervous breakdown — a “crisis” in his “mental history,” as he called it.

Since the age of 15, Mill had been caught firmly under the intellectual spell of his father’s close friend, Jeremy Bentham. Bentham was a proponent of the principle of utility — the idea that all human action should aim to promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number. And Mill devoted much of his youthful energies to the advancement of this principle: by founding the Utilitarian Society (a fringe group of fewer than 10 members), publishing articles in popular reviews and editing Bentham’s laborious manuscripts.

Utilitarianism, Mill thought, called for various social reforms: improvements in gender relations, working wages, the greater protection of free speech and a substantial broadening of the British electorate (including women’s suffrage).

There was much work to be done, but Mill was accustomed to hard work. As a child, his father placed him on a highly regimented home schooling regime. Between the ages of 8 and 12, he read all of Herodotus, Homer, Xenophon, six Platonic dialogues (in Greek), Virgil and Ovid (in Latin), and kept on reading with increasing intensity, as well as learning physics, chemistry, astronomy, and mathematics, while tutoring his younger sisters. Holidays were not permitted, “lest the habit of work should be broken, and a taste for idleness acquired.”

Not surprisingly, one of the more commonly accepted explanations of Mill’s breakdown at the age of 20, is that it was caused by cumulative mental exhaustion. But Mill himself understood it differently. In his autobiography, he wrote:

I was in a dull state of nerves, such as everybody is occasionally liable to: unsusceptible to enjoyment or pleasurable excitement; one of those moods when what is pleasure at other times, becomes insipid or indifferent… In this frame of mind it occurred to me to put the question directly to myself, ‘Suppose that all your objects in life were realized; that all the changes in institutions and opinions which you are looking forward to, could be completely effected at this very instant: would this be a great joy and happiness to you?’ And an irrepressible self-consciousness distinctly answered, ‘No!’ At this my heart sank within me: the whole foundation on which my life was constructed fell down. All my happiness was to have been found in the continual pursuit of this end. The end had ceased to charm, and how could there ever again be any interest in the means? I seemed to have nothing left to live for.

In the wake of this episode, Mill slipped into a six-month-long depression.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

— In your opinion, is struggle essential to happiness? Have you ever experienced happiness from struggle in your own life?

— Mr. Etinson writes, “Some part of us prefers to struggle or quest after an ideal, rather than attain it.” Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?

— From where do you draw happiness? From striving toward some future goal? From peaceful moments of quiet contemplation? From anything else?

— Mill suggests that all human beings are capable of finding joy in peace and normalcy. Do you think this is true? If so, how do you think people can learn to enjoy the quieter moments of life? If not, why not?

-If so, how do you think people can learn to enjoy the quieter moments of life? If not, why not??

Period 4/5 Blog #7

Your comment post should be at least 280 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Have you ever faced a challenge in your life? Did you overcome it? What was the whole experience like? What did you feel during and after your struggle?

In “Is a Life Without Struggle Worth Living?” Adam Etinson writes:

In the autumn of 1826, the English philosopher John Stuart Mill suffered a nervous breakdown — a “crisis” in his “mental history,” as he called it.

Since the age of 15, Mill had been caught firmly under the intellectual spell of his father’s close friend, Have you ever faced a challenge in your life? Did you overcome it? What was the whole experience like? What did you feel during and after your struggle?

In “Is a Life Without Struggle Worth Living?” Adam Etinson writes:

In the autumn of 1826, the English philosopher John Stuart Mill suffered a nervous breakdown — a “crisis” in his “mental history,” as he called it.

Since the age of 15, Mill had been caught firmly under the intellectual spell of his father’s close friend, Jeremy Bentham. Bentham was a proponent of the principle of utility — the idea that all human action should aim to promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number. And Mill devoted much of his youthful energies to the advancement of this principle: by founding the Utilitarian Society (a fringe group of fewer than 10 members), publishing articles in popular reviews and editing Bentham’s laborious manuscripts.

Utilitarianism, Mill thought, called for various social reforms: improvements in gender relations, working wages, the greater protection of free speech and a substantial broadening of the British electorate (including women’s suffrage).

There was much work to be done, but Mill was accustomed to hard work. As a child, his father placed him on a highly regimented home schooling regime. Between the ages of 8 and 12, he read all of Herodotus, Homer, Xenophon, six Platonic dialogues (in Greek), Virgil and Ovid (in Latin), and kept on reading with increasing intensity, as well as learning physics, chemistry, astronomy, and mathematics, while tutoring his younger sisters. Holidays were not permitted, “lest the habit of work should be broken, and a taste for idleness acquired.”

Not surprisingly, one of the more commonly accepted explanations of Mill’s breakdown at the age of 20, is that it was caused by cumulative mental exhaustion. But Mill himself understood it differently. In his autobiography, he wrote:

I was in a dull state of nerves, such as everybody is occasionally liable to: unsusceptible to enjoyment or pleasurable excitement; one of those moods when what is pleasure at other times, becomes insipid or indifferent… In this frame of mind it occurred to me to put the question directly to myself, ‘Suppose that all your objects in life were realized; that all the changes in institutions and opinions which you are looking forward to, could be completely effected at this very instant: would this be a great joy and happiness to you?’ And an irrepressible self-consciousness distinctly answered, ‘No!’ At this my heart sank within me: the whole foundation on which my life was constructed fell down. All my happiness was to have been found in the continual pursuit of this end. The end had ceased to charm, and how could there ever again be any interest in the means? I seemed to have nothing left to live for.

In the wake of this episode, Mill slipped into a six-month-long depression.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

— In your opinion, is struggle essential to happiness? Have you ever experienced happiness from struggle in your own life?

— Mr. Etinson writes, “Some part of us prefers to struggle or quest after an ideal, rather than attain it.” Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?

— From where do you draw happiness? From striving toward some future goal? From peaceful moments of quiet contemplation? From anything else?

— Mill suggests that all human beings are capable of finding joy in peace and normalcy. Do you think this is true? If so, how do you think people can learn to enjoy the quieter moments of life? If not, why not?

-If so, how do you think people can learn to enjoy the quieter moments of life? If not, why not??

Period 9/10 Blog #7

Your comment post should be at least 280 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Have you ever faced a challenge in your life? Did you overcome it? What was the whole experience like? What did you feel during and after your struggle?

In “Is a Life Without Struggle Worth Living?” Adam Etinson writes:

In the autumn of 1826, the English philosopher John Stuart Mill suffered a nervous breakdown — a “crisis” in his “mental history,” as he called it.

Since the age of 15, Mill had been caught firmly under the intellectual spell of his father’s close friend, Have you ever faced a challenge in your life? Did you overcome it? What was the whole experience like? What did you feel during and after your struggle?

In “Is a Life Without Struggle Worth Living?” Adam Etinson writes:

In the autumn of 1826, the English philosopher John Stuart Mill suffered a nervous breakdown — a “crisis” in his “mental history,” as he called it.

Since the age of 15, Mill had been caught firmly under the intellectual spell of his father’s close friend, Jeremy Bentham. Bentham was a proponent of the principle of utility — the idea that all human action should aim to promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number. And Mill devoted much of his youthful energies to the advancement of this principle: by founding the Utilitarian Society (a fringe group of fewer than 10 members), publishing articles in popular reviews and editing Bentham’s laborious manuscripts.

Utilitarianism, Mill thought, called for various social reforms: improvements in gender relations, working wages, the greater protection of free speech and a substantial broadening of the British electorate (including women’s suffrage).

There was much work to be done, but Mill was accustomed to hard work. As a child, his father placed him on a highly regimented home schooling regime. Between the ages of 8 and 12, he read all of Herodotus, Homer, Xenophon, six Platonic dialogues (in Greek), Virgil and Ovid (in Latin), and kept on reading with increasing intensity, as well as learning physics, chemistry, astronomy, and mathematics, while tutoring his younger sisters. Holidays were not permitted, “lest the habit of work should be broken, and a taste for idleness acquired.”

Not surprisingly, one of the more commonly accepted explanations of Mill’s breakdown at the age of 20, is that it was caused by cumulative mental exhaustion. But Mill himself understood it differently. In his autobiography, he wrote:

I was in a dull state of nerves, such as everybody is occasionally liable to: unsusceptible to enjoyment or pleasurable excitement; one of those moods when what is pleasure at other times, becomes insipid or indifferent… In this frame of mind it occurred to me to put the question directly to myself, ‘Suppose that all your objects in life were realized; that all the changes in institutions and opinions which you are looking forward to, could be completely effected at this very instant: would this be a great joy and happiness to you?’ And an irrepressible self-consciousness distinctly answered, ‘No!’ At this my heart sank within me: the whole foundation on which my life was constructed fell down. All my happiness was to have been found in the continual pursuit of this end. The end had ceased to charm, and how could there ever again be any interest in the means? I seemed to have nothing left to live for.

In the wake of this episode, Mill slipped into a six-month-long depression.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

— In your opinion, is struggle essential to happiness? Have you ever experienced happiness from struggle in your own life?

— Mr. Etinson writes, “Some part of us prefers to struggle or quest after an ideal, rather than attain it.” Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?

— From where do you draw happiness? From striving toward some future goal? From peaceful moments of quiet contemplation? From anything else?

— Mill suggests that all human beings are capable of finding joy in peace and normalcy. Do you think this is true? If so, how do you think people can learn to enjoy the quieter moments of life? If not, why not?

-If so, how do you think people can learn to enjoy the quieter moments of life? If not, why not??

Period 11 Blog #7

Your comment post should be at least 280 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Have you ever faced a challenge in your life? Did you overcome it? What was the whole experience like? What did you feel during and after your struggle?

In “Is a Life Without Struggle Worth Living?” Adam Etinson writes:

In the autumn of 1826, the English philosopher John Stuart Mill suffered a nervous breakdown — a “crisis” in his “mental history,” as he called it.

Since the age of 15, Mill had been caught firmly under the intellectual spell of his father’s close friend, Have you ever faced a challenge in your life? Did you overcome it? What was the whole experience like? What did you feel during and after your struggle?

In “Is a Life Without Struggle Worth Living?” Adam Etinson writes:

In the autumn of 1826, the English philosopher John Stuart Mill suffered a nervous breakdown — a “crisis” in his “mental history,” as he called it.

Since the age of 15, Mill had been caught firmly under the intellectual spell of his father’s close friend, Jeremy Bentham. Bentham was a proponent of the principle of utility — the idea that all human action should aim to promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number. And Mill devoted much of his youthful energies to the advancement of this principle: by founding the Utilitarian Society (a fringe group of fewer than 10 members), publishing articles in popular reviews and editing Bentham’s laborious manuscripts.

Utilitarianism, Mill thought, called for various social reforms: improvements in gender relations, working wages, the greater protection of free speech and a substantial broadening of the British electorate (including women’s suffrage).

There was much work to be done, but Mill was accustomed to hard work. As a child, his father placed him on a highly regimented home schooling regime. Between the ages of 8 and 12, he read all of Herodotus, Homer, Xenophon, six Platonic dialogues (in Greek), Virgil and Ovid (in Latin), and kept on reading with increasing intensity, as well as learning physics, chemistry, astronomy, and mathematics, while tutoring his younger sisters. Holidays were not permitted, “lest the habit of work should be broken, and a taste for idleness acquired.”

Not surprisingly, one of the more commonly accepted explanations of Mill’s breakdown at the age of 20, is that it was caused by cumulative mental exhaustion. But Mill himself understood it differently. In his autobiography, he wrote:

I was in a dull state of nerves, such as everybody is occasionally liable to: unsusceptible to enjoyment or pleasurable excitement; one of those moods when what is pleasure at other times, becomes insipid or indifferent… In this frame of mind it occurred to me to put the question directly to myself, ‘Suppose that all your objects in life were realized; that all the changes in institutions and opinions which you are looking forward to, could be completely effected at this very instant: would this be a great joy and happiness to you?’ And an irrepressible self-consciousness distinctly answered, ‘No!’ At this my heart sank within me: the whole foundation on which my life was constructed fell down. All my happiness was to have been found in the continual pursuit of this end. The end had ceased to charm, and how could there ever again be any interest in the means? I seemed to have nothing left to live for.

In the wake of this episode, Mill slipped into a six-month-long depression.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

— In your opinion, is struggle essential to happiness? Have you ever experienced happiness from struggle in your own life?

— Mr. Etinson writes, “Some part of us prefers to struggle or quest after an ideal, rather than attain it.” Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?

— From where do you draw happiness? From striving toward some future goal? From peaceful moments of quiet contemplation? From anything else?

— Mill suggests that all human beings are capable of finding joy in peace and normalcy. Do you think this is true? If so, how do you think people can learn to enjoy the quieter moments of life? If not, why not?

-If so, how do you think people can learn to enjoy the quieter moments of life? If not, why not??

Period 1 Blog #6

Your comment post should be at least 280 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Use the picture as inspiration to answer the following questions

-How would you design your ideal school building?

-What would the classrooms, common areas and outdoor spaces look like? What kinds of resources would you provide? How would your design promote communication and collaboration, stimulate creativity, foster well-being and maximize learning potential for everyone?

Read the related article or watch this 360 Video to find out more about how offices and schools are being redesigned to suit different working and learning styles.

Period 3 Blog #6

Your comment post should be at least 270 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Use the picture as inspiration to answer the following questions

-How would you design your ideal school building?

-What would the classrooms, common areas and outdoor spaces look like? What kinds of resources would you provide? How would your design promote communication and collaboration, stimulate creativity, foster well-being and maximize learning potential for everyone?

Read the related article or watch this 360 Video to find out more about how offices and schools are being redesigned to suit different working and learning styles.

Period 4/5 Blog #6

Your comment post should be at least 270 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Use the picture as inspiration to answer the following questions

-How would you design your ideal school building?

-What would the classrooms, common areas and outdoor spaces look like? What kinds of resources would you provide? How would your design promote communication and collaboration, stimulate creativity, foster well-being and maximize learning potential for everyone?

Read the related article or watch this 360 Video to find out more about how offices and schools are being redesigned to suit different working and learning styles.

Period 9/10 Blog #6

Your comment post should be at least 270 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Use the picture as inspiration to answer the following questions

-How would you design your ideal school building?

-What would the classrooms, common areas and outdoor spaces look like? What kinds of resources would you provide? How would your design promote communication and collaboration, stimulate creativity, foster well-being and maximize learning potential for everyone?

Read the related article or watch this 360 Video to find out more about how offices and schools are being redesigned to suit different working and learning styles.

Period 11 Blog #6

Your comment post should be at least 270 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Use the picture as inspiration to answer the following questions

-How would you design your ideal school building?

-What would the classrooms, common areas and outdoor spaces look like? What kinds of resources would you provide? How would your design promote communication and collaboration, stimulate creativity, foster well-being and maximize learning potential for everyone?

Read the related article or watch this 360 Video to find out more about how offices and schools are being redesigned to suit different working and learning styles.

Period 3 Blog #5

Your comment post should be at least 260 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm. 

Should the United States Celebrate Columbus Day?

Student Opinion

By NATALIE PROULX OCT. 5, 2017

Does your school recognize Columbus Day as an official holiday? What do you know about Christopher Columbus?

In this 2014 piece, “Columbus Day, or ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day’?,” Jake Flanagin writes:

It’s a controversial day with a turbulent history. “This historically problematic holiday — Columbus never actually set foot on the continental U.S. — has made an increasing number of people wince, given the enslavement and genocide of Native American people that followed in the wake of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria,” writes Yvonne Zipp for The Christian Science Monitor. “The neighborhood wasn’t exactly empty when he arrived in 1492.”

Back in 1992 — 500 years after Columbus’s fateful landing in the Caribbean — Berkeley, Calif., was the first American city to repurpose his day in honor of Native America. “Talk of an alternative Columbus Day dates back to the 1970s,” writes Nolan Feeney for Time, “but the idea came to Berkeley after the First Continental Conference on 500 Years of Indian Resistance in Quito, Ecuador, in 1990. That led to another conference among Northern Californian Native American groups.” Attendees brought the idea in front of the Berkeley City Council, after which they “appointed a task force to investigate the ideas and Columbus’ historical legacy.” Two years later, council members officially instated Indigenous Peoples’ Day in lieu of Columbus by a unanimous vote.

The California state senator Lori Hancock, then the mayor of Berkeley, remembers encountering Italian-American pushback similar to that in Seattle. “We just had to keep reiterating that that was not the purpose,” she told Mr. Feeney. “The purpose was to really affirm the incredible legacy of the indigenous people who were in the North American continent long before Columbus.”

And it’s worth noting that not all Italian-Americans tote Christopher Columbus as a symbol of cultural pride. “Those supposed leaders in the Italian-American community who oppose Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the same day as Columbus Day do not speak for all of us of Italian descent,” writes Margaret Viggiani of Seattle in a letter to The Seattle Times. “They certainly don’t speak for me. I, and many others, agree wholeheartedly with the long-overdue change and applaud the Seattle City Council for doing it.”

“Why should anyone take pride in honoring the life of a man who brought misery and degradation of the native peoples of this hemisphere?” she asks. “It’s time to give due to the important and overlooked accomplishments of the many indigenous people who inhabited this hemisphere long before it was named the Americas.”

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

— Why does the United States celebrate Columbus Day? In your opinion, is the holiday problematic?

— What do you think of the argument for changing the name and focus of the holiday from Columbus to “indigenous peoples”? Does it dishonor the heritage of Italian-Americans, a group that has also faced discrimination? Or does it serve to recognize and affirm the overlooked history and contributions of Native Americans?

— Do you think changing the name of the holiday can change the way indigenous peoples are treated and remembered in United States history? Or is this move largely symbolic?

— Do you think the United States should continue to recognize Columbus Day as an official holiday? If so, why? If not, should we celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead — or something else?

Period 4/5 Blog #5

Your comment post should be at least 260 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm. 

Should the United States Celebrate Columbus Day?

Student Opinion

By NATALIE PROULX OCT. 5, 2017

Does your school recognize Columbus Day as an official holiday? What do you know about Christopher Columbus?

In this 2014 piece, “Columbus Day, or ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day’?,” Jake Flanagin writes:

It’s a controversial day with a turbulent history. “This historically problematic holiday — Columbus never actually set foot on the continental U.S. — has made an increasing number of people wince, given the enslavement and genocide of Native American people that followed in the wake of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria,” writes Yvonne Zipp for The Christian Science Monitor. “The neighborhood wasn’t exactly empty when he arrived in 1492.”

Back in 1992 — 500 years after Columbus’s fateful landing in the Caribbean — Berkeley, Calif., was the first American city to repurpose his day in honor of Native America. “Talk of an alternative Columbus Day dates back to the 1970s,” writes Nolan Feeney for Time, “but the idea came to Berkeley after the First Continental Conference on 500 Years of Indian Resistance in Quito, Ecuador, in 1990. That led to another conference among Northern Californian Native American groups.” Attendees brought the idea in front of the Berkeley City Council, after which they “appointed a task force to investigate the ideas and Columbus’ historical legacy.” Two years later, council members officially instated Indigenous Peoples’ Day in lieu of Columbus by a unanimous vote.

The California state senator Lori Hancock, then the mayor of Berkeley, remembers encountering Italian-American pushback similar to that in Seattle. “We just had to keep reiterating that that was not the purpose,” she told Mr. Feeney. “The purpose was to really affirm the incredible legacy of the indigenous people who were in the North American continent long before Columbus.”

And it’s worth noting that not all Italian-Americans tote Christopher Columbus as a symbol of cultural pride. “Those supposed leaders in the Italian-American community who oppose Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the same day as Columbus Day do not speak for all of us of Italian descent,” writes Margaret Viggiani of Seattle in a letter to The Seattle Times. “They certainly don’t speak for me. I, and many others, agree wholeheartedly with the long-overdue change and applaud the Seattle City Council for doing it.”

“Why should anyone take pride in honoring the life of a man who brought misery and degradation of the native peoples of this hemisphere?” she asks. “It’s time to give due to the important and overlooked accomplishments of the many indigenous people who inhabited this hemisphere long before it was named the Americas.”

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

— Why does the United States celebrate Columbus Day? In your opinion, is the holiday problematic?

— What do you think of the argument for changing the name and focus of the holiday from Columbus to “indigenous peoples”? Does it dishonor the heritage of Italian-Americans, a group that has also faced discrimination? Or does it serve to recognize and affirm the overlooked history and contributions of Native Americans?

— Do you think changing the name of the holiday can change the way indigenous peoples are treated and remembered in United States history? Or is this move largely symbolic?

— Do you think the United States should continue to recognize Columbus Day as an official holiday? If so, why? If not, should we celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead — or something else?