The Rationalists

Puritans vs. Rationalists-
There are several differences between the puritans and the rationalists. One major difference was the religious beliefs. The Rationalist believed in a more do-gooder type god rather than this evil god that the puritans believed in. The Rationalists also were more educated, cause they liked proving things with science. Rationalists also believed that society should be run using natural law whereas the puritans believed that god decides who got these rights.

Ben Franklin is a rationalist-
Ben Franklin is a good example of a rationalist because he used the power of thought to reach moral perfection, whereas a puritan would’ve asked god instead of creating a scientific way to improve themselves morally.

My 13 virtues-
1. honesty- being able to tell the truth
2. patience- being able to wait for things
3. kindness- being nice and respecting yourself and others
4. trustworthiness- being able to be trusted and depended on
5. open-mindedness – being willing to receive new ideas
6. humbleness – modesty do not boast or brag
7. caution – paying attention to safety when needed
8. obedience- being able to obey and carry out orders when necessary
9. gratitude – being thankful for what you have
10. Generosity – giving or willingness to give freely
11. faith – having faith in yourself, others, and what you believe in
12. Justice- always do the right thing no matter what
13. determination-never giving up

Rationalist thoughts-
Rationalists thought that all men are created equal, unlike the puritans who believed in the chosen few. They also believed that everyone was born with certain rights given to them by god. They thought that if a government is messed up that the people had the power to change it. “it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government”

Writing two

Vlad III Dracul Vlad Tepes was born in the citadel of Schässburg (Sighişoara) in Transylvania in 1431. He was the second son of Vlad II Dracul (whom he was named after) and Princess Cneajna of Moldavia. Young Vlad was raised in Wallachia, well educated and when he was of age he trained to become a knight. Pretty soon his world would turn upside down as his father was forced to make a huge decision. His father belonged to the order of the dragon which was an order of selected nobles modeled on the Order of Saint George of Hungary that was created to defeat the Turks, whom at the time was trying to take over Europe. After the Turks took over Constantinople they became a serious threat to Vlad II Dracul’s kingdom. So he decided to send his sons to live in exile. But Young Vlad and his brother Radu became prisoners for four years. While being held captive Vlad had grown very resentful, and vowed to have his revenge.
In 1447 Vlad II Dracul was assassinated by a group lead by John Hunyadi, one of his relatives. It was then that Vlad III was granted freedom. He also learned of his brother Mircea’s horrifying death. Mircea had his eyes gouged out and buried alive by his political enemies the boyars of Tirgoviste. Vlad fled to Moldavia until October 1451, and was put under the protection of his uncle Bogdan II. Bogdan was assassinated at a wedding, and Vlad III fled to Hungary.
During this time the Throne of Wallachia was occupied by the Boyars. At age 17 Vlad III and Pasha Mustafa Hassan's Turkish cavalry defeated the boyars, thus Vlad reclaimed the throne for a short time. Soon after the defeat of the boyars, Hunyadi appointed Vladislav II to the post. It was then that Vlad formed an alliance with Hunyadi with hopes that he could convince him that he was the rightful heir to the throne. In July of 1456 he made his move, killing his father’s murderer and defeating Vladislav II, taking over as the ruler of Wallachia.
His First act of revenge was aimed at the boyars of Tirgoviste for killing his father and brother. On Easter Sunday of 1459 he held an Easter feast and arrested all the boyar families who attended. He impaled the older ones on steaks and forced the others to march fifty miles to the town of Poenari. After that he ordered the remaining survivors to build him a fortress on some ruins overlooking the Arges River, many people died in this process and what is left of the building today is known as Dracula’s Castle.
During his Reign Vlad Dracula had skinned, boiled, decapitated, blinded, strangled, hanged, burned, roasted, hacked, nailed, buried alive, stabbed, etc., all for his own amusement. But his Favorite Impalement was impalement on steaks, hence his last name “Tepes”. “Tepes” means "The Impaler" in Romanian. There were many stories of Vlad Tepes Philosophies. For example: He was known for his defense on Honesty and Order. Almost any crime could be punished by impalement.
In 1462 Dracula attacked the Turks to drive them out of the Danube river valley. In retrospect, The Sultan Mehmed II, Sultan of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, invaded Wallachia with an army three times larger than Vlad’s. Vlad retreated to the capital, Tirgoviste. He left the Turkish army with no food or water by poisoning wells and burning down his own villages. When the sultan and what was left of his army reached Tirgoviste they saw 20,000 Turkish prisoners all impaled. Reluctantly, the sultan retreated, but Dracula’s younger brother Radu stayed. The Turks gave Radu an army in hopes that they could seize the throne. Radu’s army followed Dracula to Poenari.
According to Legend, An archer shot an arrow with a message through a window in to Dracula’s living quarters, and upon reading the message Dracula’s wife threw herself off the tower into the water flowing beneath the castle. The Turks seized the castle, but Dracula escaped through a secret tunnel. After Dracula fled from Wallachia he went to Matthias Corvinus for help. Instead of helping Dracula, the king imprisoned him in a tower. Later, with help from the Corvinus, he became prince of Wallachia and was assassinated less than a year later. After 6 short years his reign had finally ended.

Independant Reading week 4

My independant reading book is kiss of crimson. It's about a vampire named Dante who works for a group that fights against "Rogue" vampires. Vampries that are "rogue" are sanguinary creatures that prey upon humans uncontrollably, and once a vampire turns "rogue" he can't turn back. So far we've found out that some of the vampires that have turned rogue have been using a drug called Crimson.

The puritans

The puritans’ beliefs can be summarized by four main ideas. They believed that everyone was born sinful. They also believed that God saves a select few from hell. Their third belief was that Jesus died for the chosen few, and that salvation is not earned by good works but, is a matter of predestination. A fourth belief was that only those elected had the power to interpret the word of God.


Response to Of Plymouth plantation-
The pilgrims lived a very rough lifestyle. Moving across the Atlantic Ocean and adapting to the environment must have been very hard, but they did it to the best of their ability. I thought it was great how arriving at cape cod the settlers set out in the boat to get a better idea of the land. Even though the pilgrims seemed kooky at first ,reading the piece by Bradford allowed me to understand that the pilgrims weren’t stupid people, as I thought at first by learning about their religious beliefs.

Another thing that was interesting about the piece was the relations that the pilgrims had with the Indians. I have often wondered how the pilgrims interacted with the Indians at first. Because they called them derogatory names like “savages” and such, it led me to believe that they had some type of prejudice against them. But it seemed to me by reading the history that they weren’t prejudice, but that they treated them pretty fair by making civilized agreements with them.

Response to Sinners in the hands of an angry god-
My first thought about the sermon was that it was a crazy bunch of B.S., and I am sticking to my original thought. He states that god is holding us over the pit of hell and that we have done everything to deserve eternal damnation, this makes me wonder whether or not Jonathon Edwards actually read the bible or not. In the bible god is a forgiving and goodly god.
He also says that if you don’t believe what he believes than you are going to hell and there is nothing between you and hell but the aid and that the power of god is the only thing that holds you up, and if god was to let go that you would immediately fall into hell. He spoke of hell like it’s an actual place underneath the earth or something, which is crazy because this day in age we know that there is no actual place underneath the ground.

Total depravity is expressed in Sinners in the hands of an angry god when he starts talking about god is holding you in his hand over the pit of hell and that it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire at every moment. Another example I found was an example of Limited Atonement When he states that they have done nothing to appease that anger and that god is not bound by any promise to hold them up from hell at any moment

writing one

Burlesque is a form of live entertainment, which usually consists of skits and striptease. In Burlesque, performers are usually female with elaborate costumes, music and dramatic lighting; these performers usually do demonstrations to enhance the impact of their performance. Traditionally, it has a variety of acts such as dancers, singers, comedians, pantomime, and striptease characterized by satire. Burlesque originated in Britain the 1840s. The popular shows of the 1880s –1920s were a risqué form of variety theatre. These works entertained the lower and middle classes in Britain and the United States. In the show they watched, they made fun up the upper classes. By the 1860s British burlesque relied upon underdressed women to keep the audience into the show.
In the late 1800s, the goal of burlesque shows was to reveal as much of the feminine form as possible without breaking the law. Michael Lewitt was a big time producer in the 1800s. In 1870, he created a new burlesque format. In act one the cast would perform songs and gags dressed in formal clothing. In act two there would be several variety acts such as singers, dancers and skits. In the third and final act there would be a complete one act musical.
Burlesque comedy was formed around situations similar to lower and working class audiences, such as hit shows and popular topics of the time period. Places like Courtrooms, street corners, and schoolrooms were the most popular. Sexual innuendos were always there, but the main focus was to make fun of sex and what people were willing to do in pursuit of it. For example:
A buxom Girl drops her purse, and a Comic tries to return it.)
Comic: I beg your pardon.
Girl: What are you begging for? You're old enough to ask for it.
In time came a variety medley where singers, comics, jugglers and magicians were all apart of the show. The best thing that a show had to offer was its comedy. The lead comic in a show was referred to as the “top banana”, and the character’s sidekicks were known as second and third. The lowest number you were in the whole group the most likely you would suffer the worst of the physical humor. Even though most shows used basic routines they never played in the same way.
The dancing was a bit tantalizing. During the depression era of burlesque, Entertainers like Billy Beck and the Minsky brothers’ audiences with mix of comic storytelling and sentimental and sensual dance. Modern day dancers say that dancing offers them a way to escape from their everyday lives. Burlesque performers rehearse four to six times for weekend showings, unlike most performers. They like to think of performing as “personal expression”.
Burlesque eventually died out as the shows eventually turned into striptease. This element became subject to censors, and lead to the downfall of Burlesque. The shows went from witty variety performances to simple striptease shows. While this brought a lot of men into the theatre it gave burlesque a very inappropriate reputation. The strippers are careful, because going to far could land them in jail. The strippers avoided nudity with smart costuming.
“The golden age of burlesque” has long since gone, but its legacy is still alive. Every time you’re watching SNL or spoofs like Space balls and Austin Powers are carrying on the burlesque tradition.