"Clean Coal, Is There Really Such A Thing?"

I have recently become angered by the ads on TV depicting coal as the cleanest and most efficient form of energy on the market. I remember seeing pictures in school of trains, factories, and seemingly whole towns running on coal, spewing black soot into the sky. We later learned that this soot came down as acid rain, killing whole ecosystems. We were taught this for years, but now coal is seen as the greatest thing since sliced bread. What is this?! Have people forgotten the black ominous smog that hovered above cities for days and seemed to clog your lungs with every breath? Or the mass ecosystems that were wiped out because of acid rain? Are we becoming like the people of Oceania, accepting everything that comes out of the telescreen to be true while willingly forgetting what we previously learned? Well for everyone out there that believes in the oxymoron of “clean coal” here is what I found out about it:

- It is a fossil fuel (hey weren’t we trying to get away from those and onto renewable resources?)
- The burning of it produces:
- ash
- sulfur oxide
- nitrogen oxide
- carbon dioxide
- radionucleotides
- mercury
Out of the list above, carbon dioxide, radionucleotides, and mercury are the hardest and most expensive to control and clean, and therefore are the most dangerous. Coal fired plants are the largest source of mercury, a toxic metal. Just a few drops of it can pollute millions of gallons of water. These plants are responsible for about 65% of mercury emissions. While ash, sulfur oxide, and nitrogen oxide can be cleaned from the air by scrubs on the smoke stacks, the scrubs do not catch everything.
“Clean Coal” comes with high economic costs. Because of these costs, many companies either cannot afford to keep up to date with the newest clean technologies, or they are too cheap to do so. While evading the standards might cut costs for companies, it is taking its toll on the environment. Regulation of standards is also very difficult because many people that use coal come from impoverished regions, making it hard to enforce.
Not only is it extremely difficult to enforce, but ‘Clean Coal” is still only seen as ‘promising’. It has yet to become clean. The most promising "clean coal" technology involves using the coal to make hydrogen from water, then burying the resultant carbon dioxide by-product and burning the hydrogen (World Nuclear Association). This brings up the topic of burying our unwanted and dangerous chemical byproducts, which opens a whole new can of worms.
So next time you see one of those commercials, claiming how coal is the cleanest recourse, remember the smog, remember the mercury, remember the acid rain, the deforestation, the animal mutations, the green house effect, the toxic emissions, and the black lungs, and then try and believe what the ad is telling you.

Just like me for me

It's now 1990. I'm forty-three years old, which would've seemed impossible to a fourth grader, and yet when I look at photographs of myself as I was in 1956, I realize that in the important ways I haven't changed at all. I was Timmy then; now I'm Tim. But the essence remains the same. I'm not fooled by the baggy pants or the crew cut or the happy smile—I know my own eyes—and there is no doubt that the Timmy smiling at the camera is the Tim I am now. Inside the body, or beyond the body, there is something absolute and unchanging. The human life is all one thing, like a blade tracing loops on ice: a little kid, a twenty-three-year-old infantry sergeant, a middle-aged writer knowing guilt and sorrow. (236)

Today, as I reflect on who I am, who I was, and who I one day may become, I realize that under all this growth, I am still the same person I was 10 years ago. I am still that little kid running through the woods, swinging on the play set, talking constantly to anything that will listen, and dreaming dreams that seem impossible to achieve. I believe that as we grow into ourselves, the compilation of our experiences in life help us refine, not redefine, who we are today. As O’Brien states, “The human life is all one thing, like a blade tracing loops on ice”. Human life is all one thing. Like the line that follows the blade we all experience ups and downs, gains and relapses. It is the essence of what we experience that is the linking point between the lives of different people, not the actual happenings in life. Our past is always with us; it is a story trail of who we have become. We cannot shake ourselves free of our past because it is the foundation of who we have become. In this aspect we are ‘absolute and unchanging’.

When I look back on the pictures hanging on my wall, I know that they are just representations of me, snapshots taken at different stages of my development. These snapshots form a collage of who I am. In one picture I am the stubborn five year old, a smiling middle schooler, a questioning toddler, a sister sharing her blanket. Lessons of appreciating people for who they are, treating them fairly, striving for what I believe in, being independent, kind, and generous, have all been instilled in me at a young age. They have become the basis for how I act today, and have been left unchanged even as I have grown. All of these aspects have formed the person I am today, and they are as concrete as any good foundation should be.

Along with these essentials that make me, me, come ever changing fads. My group of friends is constantly growing and changing, the clothes I wear today are definitely not what I would have picked out as a kid, and my physical appearance changes weekly. But these are not the things that make me who I am. They are only accessories to my self-expression. They are not experiences that are life changing or memorable, they are just fun things to take part in on the road of life. Yet, if I was to look at a picture of me as I am today, I could tell you that I still see that same stubborn little kid who wanted to learn everything about the world. My goals in life have not changed, and neither have my hopes and desires. While they may have become a bit more refined, they still hold that childish originality from which they came. As O’Brien writes, “ […] in the important ways I haven’t changed at all”. The essentials of who I am have not changed. They are stagnant, they are the foundation upon which my entire essence is built upon.

A Long Way Gone- Ishmael Beah

The war finally reached me when I was twelve years old. I knew about the war through stories, but it seemed as if it was happening in a faraway and different place. In January 1996, I realized it was closer than I ever imagined.

The first attack came with little warning. No one was prepared and families were separated as everyone ran desperately into the forest. I lost my whole family, except for my older brother, in the chaos. The two of us stuck together and, along with a few friends, we became nomads, searching the wilderness and surrounding villages for our families.

Our journey through the wilderness was full of danger and many times we were threatened by people with machetes. We had to convince them that we were only boys looking for our families, not rebels of the RUF. After many weeks of searching, sleeping in deserted camps, starvation, misery, and shame, we heard of a rumor that a there was a village where many of the people from our village went after it was attacked. Hoping to find our families, we made our way to the village. We were all full of anticipation at the thought of seeing our families, but just before we entered the village, it was attacked by rebel forces. My family was burned to death, trapped inside a house. I was so full of anger and sadness. I had traveled so far to find my family, and they were killed right in front of me. If I had only gotten there a few minutes earlier, we could have been out of the village, nice and safe together. Hatred filled my body. I wanted to avenge the death of my family. This is where my journey began.

After the death of my family, the only thing I had to live for was revenge. I was taken into the government’s army, fighting the RUF rebels. After starvation and the pain from losing my family set in, I felt the need to become part of something larger than myself. Something that could hold together and stay strong after all else had fallen apart. I planed to avenge the death of my family by killing all the rebels I could. I was brainwashed into thinking that revenge and death was the only answer to winning the war and finally coming to terms with my family’s death. I traded in my childhood for an AK-47 and the front lines. I witnessed so many other children die around me. I didn’t know why I was still alive, but I knew that I was going to fight until the end.

Then one day, a strange armored truck pulled into our village. I was in the group of boys randomly selected for the UNICEF rehabilitation. My guns were taken away from me, and I was loaded onto the truck with all the other selected boys. It felt so weird to not have a gun. Weapons had become my way of life, and I was angry to have my routine changed. I did not realize that they had saved my life. The first few months were the worst. We were not used to being treated as kids and taking orders from ‘civilians’. It took time, and lots of patience and care from the UNICEF workers, but we were rehabilitated. We learned how to be kids and enjoy life. We started school and learned how to trust people again.

Never did I think I would become a writer, but it all started in the UNICEF rehabilitation camp. I became the spokes person, proving to the world that we can become children again, we are not monsters. Speaking from the heart has allowed me to overcome my anger, and understand that my family would want me to live and be happy.

Today, I write because I realize that revenge will just lead to revenge and revenge and revenge. It is vicious on going cycle. I write to alter people’s view of society, and to show them that as long as there is fighting, there will be child soldiers. I write to bring awareness. I was one of the lucky ones, I survived. To repay my debt to those that lost their lives, I must tell the world of their courage, their suffering, and the importance to step in and stop what is happening in Sierra Leone.

I write to keep the memory of my family alive. I do not want to forget them, or forget what made me who I am today. I do not want to forget those that helped me on my way, by remembering them in my writing, I am keeping them alive, I am giving them importance.

For a while I struggled with the fact that I was the only one of my family to survive. It did not seem fair to me, I believed that I should have died with them. But I remember what my father said to me, “If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die”(54). It was my destiny to live and write about my story. We cannot go back in time, but we can remember the past and do our best to change the future.

Memoir Blog- A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

"Through sunless lanes creeps Poverty with her hungry eyes, and Sin with his sodden face follows close behind her. Misery wakes us in the morning and Shame sits with us at night" Oscar Wilde



This quote by Oscar Wilde is mirrored in characters of Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. The personification of poverty, sin, misery, and shame in Wilde’s quote relates to the way in which Ishmael (the main character) and all the other boys in the novel feel these emotions. These boys not only feel these emotions, but they become them. They are wrought by misery, sin, shame, and poverty, and essentially become the human shell for which all these emotions are stored.

Ishmael is surrounded by poverty. He has no food, water, shelter or family. He is poverty. After his village was attacked and his family gone, he lived in the woods, surviving off of anything he could find. Ishmael also becomes misery. He misses his family, and mourns their deaths. Everyone that he knew was dying around him and because of this he was depressed and spiritually broken (as anyone would be). He was afraid to think because of the memories and thoughts that came to him. Instead of letting out all his misery in the form of tears, Ishmael would harbor the misery inside him. On top of all the misery and poverty, Ishmael portrays shame. He feels shame for stealing and, most importantly, for leaving his family and friends behind. He also feels shame for not running back and protecting his family, for not sticking together with his friends, and for letting fear take control of him. Ishmael’s shame plagues him day and night, and leads him to have nightmares and, inevitably, sleepless nights, "I became restless and was afraid to sleep for fear that my supressed thoughts would appear in my dreams" (52). Sin is also a large factor in Ishmael’s life. He stole food from children and villages, he stole clothes, and he killed. The feeling of sin came from all his actions that were not normal to him. Ishmael slowly became sin as these violent happenings became everyday events in his life.

Wilde’s quote also represents this memoir in the sequence of events. In the memoir, Ishmael’s sin followed his poverty, and he woke up miserable, in pain, sad, hungry, and scared, and went to bed in shame from the choices he made that day and in the days before. Most of the time, Ishmael could not sleep because sleep would let his mind drift off to all the horrible things he had seen and done. So instead of sleep, Ishmael would sit up at night, looking at the stars. This also follows Wilde’s quote, for shame sat with him at night. Wilde’s quote reflects the feelings and emotions that Ishmael and others went through everyday during their fight for survival in a world that was always threatening.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The significance of the name Schell.

Oskar’s last name, Schell, is extremely significant in understanding both his character and the characters around him. In the English language, shell means a hard covering used for protecting and enclosing. This definition fits well with Oskar’s personality. After the death of his father, Oskar cuts himself off emotionally from people and the world around him. He retreats into himself, leaving only a shadow of his former being for all others to see.

Since Oskar is of German descent, it made sense to look up the German definition of schell. In German, schelle (the closest spelling of Oskar’s last name) means clamp and handcuff. This definition also relates to Oskar’s character. Oskar closed and cut himself off to other people and even to himself. There are examples of this all throughout the novel. Whenever Oskar is asked a question he first answers silently (in his mind) the way that he wishes he could, and then answers out loud with what people want to hear which is ultimately what he wants and wishes he could also believe. Oskar ‘clamped’ his mouth shut, locking in his emotions. His actions held him back from moving on with his life, much like how handcuffs keep you from moving your arms, or worse getting away from the situation. (Usually by the time you have handcuffs on it is too late to move on anyway, but since Oskar’s handcuffs were put on by himself, he was able to remove them if he wished).

Throughout Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Oskar repeats many phrases. The most important in considering the significance of the name Schell are the phrases “I’m Ok”, and “heavy boots”. Oskar has knotted and hidden himself so deep within that it is impossible for anyone to get through to him. In order to reassure his family that he is doing alright, he repeatedly says the phrase “I’m Ok”, even when he is not. This self defense mechanism diverts the peoples eyes away from the real problem and allows Oskar to continue to hide within himself. As for the repetition of “heavy boots” this goes to show how by hiding his inner most thoughts, feelings, and expressions, Oskar is indeed hurting himself. But instead of this hurt making him come out and open up to people, he delves deeper inside himself, afraid of the word around him.
Oskar’s last name, Schell, is an excellent symbol of his personality and character. It supports his actions and rather secluded personality. The use of specific names by the author can, as in this case, enhance the depth and understanding of a writing and make characters more personable

Macbeth

MACBETH
If we should fail?

LADY MACBETH
We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep--
Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey
Soundly invite him--his two chamberlains
Will I with wine and wassail so convince
That memory, the warder of the brain,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep
Their drenched natures lie as in a death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon
His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?

MACBETH
Bring forth men-children only;
For thy undaunted mettle should compose
Nothing but males. Will it not be received,
When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two
Of his own chamber and used their very daggers,
That they have done't?

LADY MACBETH
Who dares receive it other,
As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar
Upon his death?

MACBETH
I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.
Away, and mock the time with fairest show:
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.

This scene is an example of the role reversal that is present in this Shakespearean play. Here, Lady Macbeth takes the role as the dominant sex, while it was much more common in this time period for the male to be the dominant sex and the female to be submissive. In this case, Mady Macbeth is the one who is initially corrupted with power, she sees the chance to rise to a level very few excel to, and she takes it, bringing other people down with her in the end. She corrupts her husband, Macbeth, who goes on with her legacy after she is gone. In this scene particularly, you see the manipulative ways of Lady Macbeth, convincing Macbeth that they will not fail if he has the courage. She claims that they can just blame the drunk servants for the crime because they won't remember anything. Macbeth praises her for her evil, saying that if she is to have children that they will all be boys because her fearless spirit is so masculine. Even Macbeth realizes that she is not meek and mannered like most women. Lady Macbeth finishes her bloody plan by saying that when they come to investigate, they will not be suspect because they will put on such a good show of grievance, and with this Macbeth is won over. He decides to go ahead with her plan. This is extremely unheard of in this time, not only because he is being told what to do by a woman, but because he is supposed to be this amazing hero of the battlefield, capable of killing and making choices on his own. Here, Macbeth backs down and agrees with his wife, this is stereotypically a woman's trait, not a males. Macbeth backs down because he sees the wild ruthlessness inside of his wife. This can be seen when Macbeth says, "False face must hide what the false heart doth know" meaning, that a face of horror, but not of conviction, must hide the evils that are present in the heart. Macbeth has surrendered his superiority to his wife and now she wields the ability to control him.

Shakespeare's Macbeth is categorized as a tragedy, not only because of all the death, but because of one man's (or woman's) extreme lust for greatness. Macbeth had everything going for him, he was a war time hero, was well respected, and was on the ladder to success, but he was drawn into the desire for power, which corrupted him and lead to his demise and the deaths of numerous innocent people. This story goes to show that if we give into the temptation of wealth and power, we will be leading ourselves to our own death. Macbeth shows the weakness of mankind and how easily we can be tempted to do the unthinkable in order to achieve more power. As the reader, we are forced to watch Macbeth approach the cliff, and slowly step off, falling faster and faster as he ruthlessly kills all those that appear to be in his way, until that faithful second when he reaches the end of the line and crashes, and it is all over. His plummet has finally hit the bottom, and he is at the point of no return and he is consumed by greed and power. This is the bases for a tragedy, which is clearly modeled within Shakespeare's Macbeth.

This was my favorite play by Shakespeare that we have read. I found the plot to be captivating, as it fits all people, we can all be corrupted by power, and everyone has experienced it once and a while, maybe with out even realizing it. I found the switch in the gender roles to be quite interesting, and unexpected quite frankly. Out of all the books that we have read this year, I believe this one had the best message, power is corruption. This applies to everyone. I also think tragedies are the easiest to relate to. I am not sure why, but I think it is because of the fear that people have of failing that lets us feel the pain of the characters more than most other feels would. But that is just me. I think that this is going to be one of the few Shakespeare plays that I will consider reading again.

Richard III

BRAKENBURY
I am, in this, commanded to deliverThe noble Duke of Clarence to your hands:I will not reason what is meant hereby,Because I will be guiltless of the meaning.Here are the keys, there sits the duke asleep:I'll to the king; and signify to himThat thus I have resign'd my charge to you.

First Murderer
Do so, it is a point of wisdom: fare you well.

Exit BRAKENBURY

Second Murderer
What, shall we stab him as he sleeps?

First Murderer
No; then he will say 'twas done cowardly, when he wakes.

Second Murderer
When he wakes! why, fool, he shall never wake tillthe judgment-day.

First Murderer
Why, then he will say we stabbed him sleeping.

Second Murderer
The urging of that word 'judgment' hath bred a kindof remorse in me.

First Murderer
What, art thou afraid?

Second Murderer
Not to kill him, having a warrant for it; but to bedamned for killing him, from which no warrant can defend us.

First Murderer
I thought thou hadst been resolute.

Second Murderer
So I am, to let him live.

First Murderer
Back to the Duke of Gloucester, tell him so.

Second Murderer
I pray thee, stay a while: I hope my holy humourwill change; 'twas wont to hold me but while onewould tell twenty.

First Murderer
How dost thou feel thyself now?

Second Murderer
'Faith, some certain dregs of conscience are yetwithin me.

First Murderer
Remember our reward, when the deed is done.

Second Murderer
'Zounds, he dies: I had forgot the reward.

First Murderer
Where is thy conscience now?

Second Murderer
In the Duke of Gloucester's purse.

First Murderer
So when he opens his purse to give us our reward,thy conscience flies out.

Second Murderer
Let it go; there's few or none will entertain it.

First Murderer
How if it come to thee again?

Second Murderer
I'll not meddle with it: it is a dangerous thing: itmakes a man a coward: a man cannot steal, but it accuseth him; he cannot swear, but it cheques him;he cannot lie with his neighbour's wife, but itdetects him: 'tis a blushing shamefast spirit that mutinies in a man's bosom; it fills one full of obstacles: it made me once restore a purse of gold that I found; it beggars any man that keeps it: it is turned out of all towns and cities for a dangerous thing; and every man that means to live well endeavours to trust to himself and to live without it.

I found this passage from Shakespeare's Richard III to be a sort of imitation of Richards two sidedness. In this scene, Two murderers are bribed with money to kill Clarence. One of the murders feels no remorse in doing this deed, drawn to the prize that he gets after he finishes his job, the second murderer on the other hand, is having doubts about going through with this deed. I believe that this is dual attitude is made to represent Richard. Richard is a complex character with 2 very distinct personalities. In the face of people he puts on a mask and acts like the nicest person in the world, one that cares about people other than himself and would do anything for them, but he is lying through his teeth, for as soon as he is alone, the mask comes off and you see the true Richard, the one who will do anything to get what he wants. In the face of people he has a conscious, much like the second murderer, yet when he is alone, he is like the first one, with out a conscious where the only things that matter are those pertaining to himself and getting what he wants. Richard is not driven by what is morally right, or by what society has deemed as right, he does as he wishes, taking out anyone who stands in his way. He hired these murderers, and in this way they represent him and his dominant, if not insane, ways. The second murderer also represents what Richard does not have, the ability to sense right from wrong and to feel remorse for ones actions. He is almost like Richard's missing half. All people are self centered at times, focusing on themselves and their need to achieve and succeed, but they also have a conscious that tells them when something is morally wrong, Richard does not have this. He is solely concerned about himself and his rise to greatness, taking down anyone without a second thought, and if he does think about it, he only sees the good that it did him, not the pain that it did to others. In the last lines said by the Second Murderer, he basically explains Richards theory, that a conscious only hinders, if you want to be great you must do without one, for it will make you mad, thinking about all the wrong you did to get where you are today.

Histories are by far my favorite genre to read. Most people find histories to be dry and boring, but i believe that there is much to learn from them and that they can be quite interesting if you find the right one. I believe that Richard III was the right one. Richard had the right mix of history and woven in fiction, and they complimented each other perfectly. Through this genre, Shakespeare was able to convey the tragedy of Richard III, the power struggle, the historical events, and the inevitable outcome. Shakespeare was able to bring in historical facts, like Richard's deformity, which helped bring a personal touch into the work that made you feel as though you were there in those times. You were able to see the character and witness how he used his deformity as a weapon to make himself seem weak while really being a power stricken individual. The way in which Shakespeare wrote this play gets rid of the boring and mellow aspect of some historical novels, and replaces it with interesting if not mind boggling facts and actions which bring you not only into the play but into the time period itself. (and you thought histories were boring :p )

While I did say that I enjoyed reading historical novels, I found this one to be my least favorite one that I have read. I really do not enjoy reading Shakespeare as I have previously stated and I was constantly confused and lost with what was going on in the play. For me, I would have rather seen this one acted out, it would have been easier for me to relate to and understand. It is not that I did not like the play, it is just that I have difficulties reading Shakespeare's writing, I find it hard to understand. Other than that, the play and the characters themselves were incredible. Shakespeare was able to create such intricate characters and generate such strong reactions from the readers in a relatively short amount of time. I give his much applause on his capabilities as a writer to create characters that generate such a compelling reaction from the reader. I felt hatred, remorse, sadness, suspense, and intensity in all the correct places to to all the right people. I was able to feel the same pain the characters felt, and I was able to feel the insanity that coursed through Richard's veins. In this way I really enjoyed the play, I just wish Shakespeare could have written in a way that I was more capable of understanding in the first read through, not the second or third. Other than that, this was a good example of the history genre written by Shakespeare.