The drawing means that everyone walks at their own pace and that everyone should be different.

Death Poet's Society Reflection

      In Miss Syrstad's class we saw the movie of Death Poet's Society. In this movie you can see a lot of examples of transcendental ideas like the ones that Emerson and Thoreau had. Before watching the movie we read some their essays and then Miss Syrstad explained to us what Transcendentalism and Romanticism.

      The movie begins in a school that need an english teacher, and they end up hiring Mr. Keating. This teacher's lessons were kind of different. For example on his first class he went to the trophy room with his students, he told them to seize the day or Carpe Diem because they are temporary in the world and that they should leave a legacy behind. In another class the teacher told them to rip off the pages of their books, some students were reluctant at first, but everyone ended cutting the pages from their books. Another day they were outside from the classroom and Mr. Keating instructed them to march, he noticed that all the students were marching at the same pace. He told them that it is okey if some of them marched faster and some slower. Another time he told his students to stand on top of the desk and he said that it was to see things in another angle.

      Early in the movie Mr. Keaton told their students that he was a member of the Death Poet's Society and he described what they did in that, but at the end he said that they should forget about it. His students were excited about this idea and they created their own. An article was created in the name of the Death Poets and controversy rose in the school.

      Neil Perry wants to act but his father doesn't let him. He followed the idea of Carpe Diem and he auditioned for the local theatre and ends up getting thee main role of the play. He didn't tell his father about this, and after some time, his father ended up realizing that Neil was going to be the main character. Neil's father prohibits him from acting, and after he finished his play in the theatre, Neil commits suicide.

      Death Poet's Society ends up being being guilty and all the blame goes to Mr. Keating. The professor end up losing his job for something he didn't even do. Another teacher ends up replacing Mr. Keating, and while the new teacher is giving classes Keating enters and the Death Poets stand up on their desks and they say "Oh Captain, My Captain".

      Every scene I wrote represents transcendetal ideals.

Music Journal

      There's a song from Pink Floyd that reflects transcendental ideas. The name of this song is Another Brick on the Wall pt 2. Pink Floyd is one of my favorite bands and this song came to my mind when I thought of something that had to do with being against imitation and other transcendental ideas. These are the lyrics of the song:

We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

"Wrong, Do it again!"
"If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding. How can you
have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?"
"You! Yes, you behind the bikesheds, stand still laddy!"

      This song talks about how the schools are making you one of the bunch, or just another brick on the wall, and not a unique person.  It also says how schools are controlling people's minds by telling them what to think, what to do and to think inside the box. In the line "wrong, do it again" it says that school kills creativity because it limits the students creativity.

      If iPods existed back in the 1800's I think that Thoreau would have had this song in it. This is because Thoreau transcendental beliefs are that you should break out of your routine, be the best version of yourself, march to the beat of your own drum and make the most of your life. I don't think that Thoreau would have liked the method that schools teach children things. Inside the school, everyone should march at the same beat of the drum or you are going to be behind your classmates. Also every day of school is a routine that repeats time and time again, something that Thoreau doesn't approves. And because schools limit the creativity of children, it doesn't let you be the best version of yourself. Those are the reasons why I think that Thoreau who have this song.

Friends and Family Journal

      I will start this journal talking about my friend I went out with to Yog (see the Busy Place Journal to get some context). Now that I think about it, she lives her life in a very transcendental way. She doesn't really care what society thinks about her, I remember she told me "que piensen lo que quieran" or let them think what they want, that phrase is as transcendental as you can get. She likes to live her life to the fullest. We also talked about how our friendship came out of no where because we dont attend the same schools (or ever had) and have few friends in common, we concluded that it was because I talked to her in a party searching for an advice. Over the course of time we have met (about 8 months ago), I have noticed that she is someone you can talk to very easily, the conversations flows without any problems. She gives very good advices and she's also open to hear my advices. Now that I think about it maybe her transcendental ideals were the ones that made our friendship start. For example, her disposition to live her life to the fullest and not to loose any beneficial experiences was the thing that may have started our friendship. Breaking your routine of talking to the same people can create a great friendship that you wouldn't have had in the first place.

      Another friend that I noticed that lives with these ideals is Beto Valdés. He follows a lot of transcendental ideas unconsciously. Beto is like a child, in a good way. He is a free person and does whatever he wants whenever he wants. He's also against thinking inside the box, all of his ideas are outstanding and creative. I noticed that he's a person that has a very rich conversation; you can fool around, get good advice from him, even talk about conspiracy theories.

      The last person I analysed is my brother Diego. On Thanksgiving break, I spent about 3 days with him, and I noticed that he is living a freer life than what he lived in here in Torreon, mostly because my parents are not around in his department so he can do whatever he wants. He has a child spirit in the way that he does whatever he wants

Busy Place Journal

Today, I went to Yog which is a place where you can get frozen yogurt with a friend. We didn't go to Yog to watch people in the first place (like the assignment says), but as we talked, she asked me if I had any projects due on CAT (she's from Tec) and I remembered my journal assignment that I haven't started, I told her this assignment is due in 2 days, so I decided to stalk some people.

      The first person I observed when I entered the store, was the guy who served my friend her yogurt. Well, his job was to serve yogurt to the customers with the toppings they want. I always have the curiosity of what they think when you order a weird combination of yogurt and toppings, are they used to it? or, do they judge you for your bad taste of yogurt and toppings? He didn't talk much, but also there's not so much you can say about frozen yogurt so I wouldn't call him an introvert. He had pimples in his face, and he seemed pretty nice and kind. I think that his goal in life is to get money to pay for school and then become a successful businessman.

      There was another guy who was working in Yog. I ordered a small yogurt with toppings and I remember that I asked him for advice of what toppings to put on top of my yogurt because I usually don't go to Yog, and that's when I noticed that he was sort of shy with a low-toned voice. His recommendation of putting cheese pie to my yogurt was really good, by the way. My friend and me went outside to eat our food and for some reason we started to talk about this guy. This doesn't mean that we talked badly of him, but we noticed that he wasn't your ordinary mexican that you see in the corner of the street, he was... different. His skin color wasn't like my hot-chocolate-colored skin or like Valeria Llama's milk-colored skin. His skin was in between my skin color and Valeria's but more towards Valeria's side (whiter lol). I would describe his skin color as a light-toasted bread color. In my perspective, if you are shorter than me, in my head you are a short person, so almost every person I meet is of short height. But this guy was really short, like REALLY short, below average height. He had long hair, longer than Gelacio's hair. He didn't have any pimples in his face, and he is an expert in the subject of yogurt topping recommendations. I would say that his goal in life is also to become a businessman, but that's boring and unoriginal. So this time I think that his goal in life is to become a male super model so he can become rich and famous.

      This journal is getting too long but I also remember that a woman entered the store about 30 minutes after we got our food. I couldn't hear her voice but she seemed nice. I think she is a mother of 2 children, so I think that her purpose in life is to raise both of those kids so they can become whatever want to be.