Abraham Lincoln: The Poem

A Final Reflection

This has been an amazing class and semester. Etymology challenged me to read 1362 pages! When I first started this class I was not much of a reader. I was independent at most of my work and this class increased more of my skills for independency. During the course of the semester I read mystery books. Almost all of the books I read were written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. I was lucky that I could stick with his books and be able to finish all of the Sherlock Holmes books. The weekly page quota helped push me to read although most of the reading was during the last few days of the week. Most of the time when I read, i'm in a quiet room. I am not able to read and listen to music at the same time or I will get lost in the story. Every once and a while, I do talk about what i'm reading to my friends and teachers. It is the end of the semester and I feel it is safe to say I have changed as a reader. In the beginning, I barely read any books and now i'm a faster and happier reader. I think this class has made me more likely to read overall and might make me want to pick up a book during the summer although i'm not sure what yet. Towards the beginning of this semester, I had no taste for poetry, but now I believe that it is an amazing art of this language we call English. This class had me look at poetry in a different point of view than my other classes. We were able to look at poetry and analyze it ourselves weather we were right or wrong. We could even choose the poems we want to read. So yes, this class has changed my view toward poetry for the better.

The Da Vinci Code Prologue-Chapter 6 (p1-39)

The Prologue of this book is very short and shows a creative beginning. It starts with a man named Jacques Saunier who was running from an albino man with a gun. To try to protect himself, Jacques was in a museum and took a painting off the wall. This triggered the alarm and brought bars down so the albino man could not get to him. Although they were separated by bars, they could still communicate. So, the albino man ended up asking him were 'it' is. Jacques tried lying but that didn't work because three other men approached by the albino said the same and died. He ended up getting shot. The rest of these pages showed that he had a secret and did not want it to be lost with him and that he had to find a way to pass it on.

In chapter 1, a man named Robert Langdon was sleeping in his hotel in Paris when the concierge called and said that someone was waiting to meet him. Langdon thought that it was someone mad at him from the speech he gave that day, so he told the concierge to send the man away. Later, his phone rang again and Robert found out that it was the French Police. and they went to his room and asked him about his plans to meet Jacques after his speech that didn't happen. Langdon said that Jacques never showed up so he just went back to his room. After that, the Police told him that he died and the picture showed that Jacques' body was arranged in a specific way to show a symbol.

In chapter 2, we find out the albino man's name, Silas. He ends up going to his bedroom and calling a man that he calls The Teacher. He told 'The Teacher' that he had killed Jacques and that him and his three other companions that died all said that the keystone that Silas and his men were looking for was at the Church of Saint Suplice. So, The Teacher told him to go there and get it immediately. But before he left he punished himself by whipping himself. He said that it was for his sins.

In chapter 3, Langdon went with the Police to the museum. He talked about the structures there like the pyramid and also met Bezu Fache, the police captain.

In chapter 4, the captain took Langdon to Jacques body. There, Langdon finds out that Jacques was a connoisseur of goddess iconography which is the worship of the feminine. What I didn't say before was that Langdon specializes in icons and symbols which is one of the reasons of why he is there.

In chapter 5, a man named Bishop Manuel Aringarosa, in charge of a group called Opus Dei, left New York and went to Rome. When he was in the plane he took a call and found out that Silas found out that the keystone was in the Church of Saint Suplice. So, Manuel said that he would find a way to let Silas get access to the church. The rest of this chapter was about Silas past and his joining of the church.

In chapter 6, Langdon was telling Fache that Jacques arranged his body in a certain way for a reason. He also explained that he drew a pentacle on his stomach with his own blood and that this sign symbolizes the Venus goddess. They also found out that he had a glow in the dark marker and found that Jacques left a message. They had no idea what it meant and Fache said that is why they needed him. At the end of this chapter, Lieutenant Collet set up a recording system to record the conversation going on between Langdon and Fache.

Lego-style apartment transforms into infinite spaces

this is revolutionary and very interesting i wouldnt mind living here

The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes Adventure of the Veiled Lodger & Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place & Adventure of the Retired Colourman(p1290-1323)

In The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger, a woman named Mrs Merrilow went to Holmes because she saw a lodger's face that never showed it and became scarred and even called her a murderer. Her name was Mrs. Ronder and Merrilow did not want the police to be involved, so thats why she went to Holmes. Holmes ended up knowing this lodger from another case where a lion was let loose and one person died while the other's face was disfigured. Mr Ronder was the other person attacked by the lion that died. At the end of the story, Holmes found out the Mrs Ronder was in love with a man other than her husband named Leonardo and they planned to get rid of Mr. Ronder with a distraction for the people (lion) and a club with five nails to his head. But that same day the lion turned against Mrs. Ronder and bit part of her face. She felt suicidal but Holmes convinced her not to kill herself.

In The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place, a man named John Mason from Shoscombe Old Place was a horse racer and went to Holmes about his master, Sir Robert Norberton. His sister owns the stable and it will be his brother in law's when she dies. So, Holmes agreed to investigate and found out when they got there that the innkeeper owns Norberton's sister's dog. So, Holmes offered to take it for a walk and went to Shoscombe and let it go infront of her carrage. Once, the dog noticed there was a man in it, he ran away. Later, Holmes found a coffin and John found bones that disappeared soon after he found them. After that, Sir Robert found them and explained everything. His sister died a week earlier of dropsy and he just wanted to keep it a secret for a short time so he wins his race. So, he hid the body and wore her clothes but did not show his face. Then, Holmes ended up telling the police and Robert won the Derby and didn't get into any trouble while becoming rich.

In The Adventure of the Retired Colourman, a former art supplier named Josiah Amberley went to Holmes for help in the missing of his wife. She left with his neighbor, Ray Ernest and took cash and other items with her. Holmes was busy at the time and told Watson to see what he could. Watson found that Amberley was painting his house and also found his wifes unused theater ticket. It turned out that she and the neighbor left while Amberley was at the theater. His wife didn't go because of a "headache." So, when Watson was going back to Baker Street to tell Holmes what he has, he bumped into Holmes' rival detective Barker, whom was hired to find Ray Ernest. When Holmes finds out the information he needed, he told Watson and Amberley to go do an errand and while they were out, he searched the house and Barker ended up joining him. Then when Amberley came back, Holmes asked what he did with the bodies. He found out that Amberley killed his wife and Ernest out of jealousy. Holmes found the bodies in a well in the garden and Amberley was taken by the police.

Introducing the Chromebook

This is a revolutionary new idea which may even turn into the norm in 5 or so years

The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes The Problem of Thor Bridge & The Adventure of the Creeping Man & the Adventure of the Lion's Mane (p1242-1290)

In The Problem of Thor Bridge, a man named Neil Gibson from the U.S. went to Holmes for help in an investigation of a murder his wife Maria. His marriage was not the best and he treated his wife badly and also became attracted to a woman named Miss Dunbar, but because he was married, he only tried to please her by helping people in worse situations than himself. His wife Maria was found on Thor Bridge with a bullet through her head and a not from Miss Dunbar agreeing to meet there. Also a gun that seemed to be recently fired was found in Miss Dunbar's wardrobe. After some time, Holmes solved the case and showed what happened using Watson's gun. He showed the Mrs Gibson was jealous of Miss Dunbar's relationship with her husband so she committed suicide and made it seem like Miss Dunbar did it.

In the Adventure of the Creeping Man, a man named Trevor Bennett went to Holmes because he is a professor's secretary and engaged with his daughter, Edith. He also found out that the professor had been to Prague and that his wolfhound was attacking him (which is bad). The professor also had letters that passed through Mr. Bennett which he was not allowed to open. He acted stranger too, with mood swings and habit changes, and even crawled on his hands and feet through the hallway. While Bennett was telling Holmes this, his fiancée walked in and said that she saw her dad once go to her 2nd floor bedroom window at 2 AM. So, the next day, Holmes and Watson went to visit the Professor but were kicked out because they had no appointment. But, just in time, Bennett found the address of the person the professor was writing to. In the end, Holmes found that every 9 days, the professor takes a drug that changes his behavior and he became addicted to it in Prague.

In the Adventure of the Lion's Mane, Holmes is at the beach and meets his friend Harold Stackhurst, the headmaster of a school. When they met, a science teacher went up to them. with red welts on his back that were made with a flexible weapon and died. A math teacher also showed up and Holmes found out that they were friends. So, to find more information, Holmes and his friend went to a woman named Miss Bellamy because she knew the science teacher but when they got there, so did the math teacher. Over there, they find out that Maud Bellamy and the science teacher were engaged and Holmes thought that the math teacher was had jealousy and killed the science teacher. Later, the science teacher's dog was found dead in the same spot as him. At the end of the story Holmes found out that the killer was just a jellyfish that was deadly so he took a rock and killed it.

Poems

Theme:Science

1. Universe-STEVEN SCHNUR

2. True Solar Holiday- DOUGLAS CRASE

3. Often I Imagine the Earth- DAN GERBER

4. Atmosphere- A. V. CHRISTIE

5. X-Ray- DANNIE ABSE

6. Natural Selection- ALAN SHAPIRO

7. Earth Day- JANE YOLEN

Video Poem: Universe

The Case book of Sherlock Holmes Adventure of the Sussex Vampire & Adventure of the Three Garridebs (p1218-1242)

In the Adventure of the Sussex Vampire, Holmes got two letters that talk about vampires and the next day, a man named Robert Ferguson went to his apartment and said that his wife was sucking her son's blood. He didn't see her do it before but the nurse had several times. At one point he even found a wound on his son's neck and blood on his wife's lips. When he found out, Mrs. Ferguson locked herself up in her room and only her maid was allowed. So, Holmes went to Ferguson's house and found out that Mrs. Ferguson was sick and said that she would sacrifice herself rather than breaking her husband's heart. Later Holmes found out what was happening. Ferguson's older son was jealous of his younger brother so he shot poison darts at him and his mother was sucking out the poison. Mrs. Ferguson wanted someone else to tell Ferguson because she would sound crazy.

In The Adventure of the Three Garridebs, a man named Nathan Garrideb wrote a letter to Holmes asking for help in finding another person with the same last name because he would get a lot of money. He had already been visited by a man named John Garrideb who had the same quest. Later, John went to Holmes and was not happy that he was involved. John told him that a man named Alexander Hamilton Garrideb would give him his 15,000,000 dollars if he found two other Garridebs to share it with. So, John went to London to find his relatives and found Nathan. After hearing what John had to say, Holmes went to Nathan's house and found out that he is a collector and that Nathan was not suspicious of John. While they were there, John showed up and said that he found another Garrideb named Howard and told Nathan to go with him to Birmingham. After knowing who John is, Holmes went to the police station and found out that John was a killer and fugitive. So, they went to his house and had a small battle that ended with Watson being shot but not killed and John taken to jail.

The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone & The Adventure of the Three Gables (p1193-1218)

In The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone, Watson went to his apartment and found Holmes in the bed at 7PM. He told him that he was on a trail and looking for a 100000 pound crown diamond. While looking, he was disguised a workman and a woman. The Prime Minister and Home Secretary visited him for the help in the hunt. That day Holmes was expecting someone to try to kill him so he put a wax dummy in his chair as a decoy so when it was damaged, he could catch the murderer and thief. They already had his name (Count Negretto Sylvius) but didn't know where he was. Later, Sylvius did end up coming over with one of his henchmen too. When that happened Holmes gave Watson a letter and told him to give it to a man at the criminal investigation department and to bring the police back with him. While he was waiting, Holmes tried to find out from Sylvius where the stone was. When the count entered the bedroom, he tried to attack the wax figure but Holmes went out of hiding. Then Holmes bluntly asked him where the stone was and after some manipulating, he gets him to admit he knows where it is. When he wouldn't get anymore information from him, Holmes called Sylvius' henchmen in the room and asked them by threatening with prison and went back into hiding. After some more manipulating, Holmes got Sylvius to admit it was in his pocket and he even took it out. When that happened, Holmes came out from where the dummy was and took the stone while pointing a pistol at him. Soon enough, Watson came back and arrested them and the case was over.

In The Adventure of the Three Gables, a man named Steve Dixie went to Holmes and told him to stay away from Harrow. He was trying to scare him and keep him away but because Holmes knew about him, he threatened to tell about a Perkins death that somehow involved him. From the visit, Holmes also found out that Dixie's boss, Barney Stockdale was connected with the Harrow Weald case that he just learned about from a woman who lives at Three Gables in Harrow Weald named Mary Maberley. Mary also told Holmes that a man went to her and offered to buy her house for 500 pounds more than it was worth and to also pay for the furniture but she refused and called off the deal. While she was telling Holmes this, someone was eavesdropping and opened the door dragging Susan, the maid. Holmes then found out from her that Susan talked to Barney and Dixie visited her and gave clues that she was part of Barney's gang but left so she wouldn't give information. Later, Holmes told Mary to look through her son's stuff for anything interesting. After that, Holmes and Watson went to Three Gables to see the burglary that had just happened to Mary. They ended up stealing a manuscript from he sons stuff. After seeing that he found out what happened. Holmes went to a woman named Isadora Klein and found out that she was involved with Douglas Maberly (Mary's son) and he wrote abook about the affair so she hired Barney to get it back. So to help Mary, Holmes forced her to pay 5000 pounds to her so she could travel around the world.

Behind the Hunt for Bin Laden

This is a very interesting article and amazing victory for any American. A strange thing about this plan was that they waited so long. Obama had information at least a month before and did not take that much action. Another thing that amazed me was that they recreated the building to practice the breaking in and fulfillment of the operation.

The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes The Adventure of the Illustrious Client & The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier (p1156-1193)

In The Adventure of the Illustrious Client, a man named Sir James Damery went to Holmes and Watson because a woman named Violet was in love with a man named Adelbert Gruner, which he thinks is a murderer. Gruner's last wife was also murdered. He is a collector and had Chinese pottery. Later Holmes went to see Gruner and he threatened him by telling him the last person to try to interfere with his life was crippled. So, Holmes went to Gruner's last mistress, Kitty who wanted revenge on him. From her, Holmes found out that Gruner collects women and he writes their names in a book. So, Holmes went to go see Violet to tell her to leave Gruner but she refused and thought too good of him. After that Holmes was attacked by two men and when Watson found out, he hurried to Baker Street and found that he was hurt and would be out of action for some time. Once that happened, Kitty was removed from the city so she wouldn't be hurt. A couple days Holmes was out of bed and found that Gruner was planning to go to the US. Then for some odd reason, Holmes told Watson to learn about Chinese pottery so he did it. The next day Watson was told to act as a collector and to sell a pot to Gruner. Then he found out that Holmes sent him and heard a loud noise. Once he heard that, he went to his window to jump out and Kitty threw vitriol in his face. By then his face was disfigured and Holmes assured that Violet would not want him anymore.

In The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier, a man named James M. Dodd went to Holmes about a friend named Godfrey Emsworth who was missing. They had served together in the Second Boer War and he was injured and Dodd had not seen him since then. When Dodd contacted Emsworth's father, he was told that he went on a voyage around the world. So, because he was not happy with that answer, he actually went to his home and was told the same thing. When he talked to the butler, the butler was refering to Godfrey in the past tense and said it would be better to do that. Later, Dodd saw Godfrey looking through the bedroom window and tried to chase him but couldn't find him. At night the next day and went to a building he found seeing Godfrey who told him he was leaving on the next train. So, Dodd ended up going back to Holmes and was told that the only reason Godfrey would be hiding is because he has leprosy which he contracted in Africa.

His Last Bow The Adventure of the Devil's Foot & His Last Bow (p1123-1155)

In The Adventure of the Devil's Foot a man named Mr. Mortimer Tregennis and another person named Mr. Roundhay went to Holmes to report that Tregennis' two brother had become insane and his sister had did too. Mortimer had gone to see them, left for a while and came back the next day seeing them in the same spots he left them with his sister dead and the maid fainted on the floor. Mortimer believed that the man he once divided his the profits from the sale of his family business did killed her and made his brothers insane. So, Holmes went the the house and summed up his evidence. Later, the cousin of Tregennises, Dr. Leon Sterndale, visited him and when Holmes saw him leaving, he followed him. The next day, Mortimer had died the same way as his sister. After some evidence collecting, Holmes found out how people died and why people were fainting. The smoke of the lamp in the room is poison. Holmes also found out that Mortimer used the poison on his own brothers and sister. He also found out that Dr. Leon had killed Mortimer because he wanted to marry Tregennises' sister and wasnt able to, and once he found out what had happened, he took revenge.

In His Last Bow, it is the first World War and a German man named Von Bork was an agent leaving England with information gathered over four years. He was with his friend Von Herling and Bork had to wait to leave until he had his last transaction with his Irish-American informant. Later, Herling leaves and Bork packed his safe while another person named Altamont came with a car and showed him a package he had brought. The package was a book called Practical Handbook of Bee Culture. After looking at it for a couple seconds, Altamont put chloroform in his face and made him pass out. Later Bork found out that Altamont was Holmes and that they had caught many spies. At the end of the story, Holmes said that he was retiring his job as a detective.