Boring Orange

In the short story The Mask of the Red Death, by Edgar Allen Poe, different colored rooms were used to symbolize different stages of life. The color orange was selected by Poe to represent the stage of life from about 21 years of age to about age 50. Of all of the rooms, this one made the least amount of sense.

An analysis of the seven rooms proves that all of the other colors have some meaning, but orange. We only know what ages it represents because of the gap between green and white. If one ponders the meaning of the color orange and middle aged adults then they will deduce that there are few connections. People of this age have a lust for life; gold may have been a good choice. They are spontaneous or sometimes angry: maybe red. Did Poe blend the two colors to make orange? Probably not, he might have just been daft. It may be close to red or gold, but it isn’t either one. Was Poe off his rocker, or was he just as uncertain about what color to use as the rest of us? No one will ever know.

The people I know who are between 21 and 50 seem to be happy. I think I heard that in south-western Russia orange is the color of happiness. Connection? Possibly. Then again some of these people are angry that they are getting older. Red is the color anger, another possible connection. When I think of these people, orange defiantly doesn’t come to mind. Poe was a heavy drinker, maybe his decision about the use of orange was made when he got home from the bar one night. Who knows? One thing is certain, of all the colored rooms in The Masque of the Red Death, Orange was the most pointless.    

Supertramp with a wild side.

The book Into the Wild by John Krakauer is a story of adventure and the pursuit of happiness. In this book Chris McCandless travels North America in search of fulfillment in an unconventional way; he roams the continent as a tramp enjoying the landscape and culture. Along the way he makes many friends and sees places that change his life. This book is great for anyone who likes tales of adventures and wilderness survival; I personally enjoied it.

O.Henry

• O. Henry is the pen name for William Sydney Porter.
• He was bourn in Greenboro North Carolina.
• After he was fifteen he lived in Texas for his early life.
• However trouble with the law made him relocate to Honduras.
• After 3 years in Honduras he returned and was arrested.
• While in jail he started writing to make money for his daughter.
• In 1902 he moved to New York City.
• He wrote many published stories about New York life.
• He was an alcoholic, sometimes drinking two quarts of wiskey daily.
• In 1910 he died of Cirrhosis in the Liver. 
• www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ohenry.htm

Edgar Allen Poe Unit

Edgar Allan Poe Website Questions
1.Provide the following biographical information: birthdate; birthplace; death date. Poe was born on January 19th, 1809 in Boston. He died on October 7th in Baltimore.
2.What tragic childhood events influenced his writing? When Poe was a child both of his parents died in the same year. This probably influenced his grim writting.
3.There are 13 theories on what caused Poe's death. List five of them. 1. Diabetes, 2.Rabies 3. A Toxic Disorder 4. Epilopsy 5. Dipsomnia
6.What famous military academy expelled Poe in 1831? In 1831 Poe was expelled from West Point.
7.Who did Poe marry? How old was she? Poe married Virginia Clemm, who was 13 years old.
9.What is "Murders in the Rue Morgue" the first of? This was a detective story, the first of which that is considered to be written in a modern format.
10.When was "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat" written? Both of these stories were written in 1843.
11.When was "The Raven" published? "The Raven was published in 1845.
12.Check out the Poe photo gallery. Which picture looks most like the Poe you envision while reading his stories? Of the twelve pictures, the 8th is the one that I envisioned him as.
17.Who is the Poe Toaster? The Poe toaster is an unidentified person who leaves a bottle of alcohol with a rose in it on Poe's grave once every year.

information from http://www.poestories.com/ and http://www.poemuseam.com/
In my life I haven't done very much with Poe. When I was little my older cousin told me the story "The Pendulum in the Pit". It scared me a bit. That was my only previous Poe experience.

Quarter 2

Time for round two of my english blog. It was so boring that I set it on fire to make it better. That is why it is called the burning english blog. This quarter is going to be better than the first, because it won't be as depressing. The flames are only on the top of the blog because that is the only part that is worth reading.

Alcoholism Research Paper

Will H
10/03/10
Alcoholism Research Paper
To stop the spread of Alcoholism imposing restrictions on alcoholic beverages and the uses of them will not be effective. Instead, groups like Alcoholics Anonymous who help alcoholics recover and educate the general population are more helpful. Imposing restrictions will create a scenario like prohibition in which there were more negative effects than good effects. It will also be a burden to responsible drinkers.
Alcoholics Anonymous is a global group that helps Alcoholics. Dr. Robert Smith and Bill Watson created the organization in 1935. The group uses a 12 step method to fix a problem that they consider to be spiritual. There are 2,000,000 followers in 10,000 groups in 150 nations and territories all over the world. Membership to every Alcoholics Anonymous is absolutely free, so it is available to anyone who can access it. There are also related groups that help the families of alcoholics and teenage alcoholics. “Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is perhaps the best-known and most successful alcoholism recovery program.” (Alcoholics Anonymous. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia.)
Although Prohibition was created to stop the problems that alcohol created it turned out that it did nothing but augment them. Illegal alcohol produced during the years of prohibition was much stronger than alcoholism produced before. The amount of arrested drunk drivers grew by 81% during prohibition. The sales of alcohol for sterilization quadrupled from 1923 to 1931. During Prohibition “One New Jersey businessman claimed that there were 10 times more places one could get a drink during Prohibition than there had been before,” (Thorton.)
Along with the problems becoming worse more people started to get hurt. The crime rate grew by 24%. Suicide rates went up by 78%. Deaths from poison alcohol went from 1,064 in 1920 to 4,154 in 1925. "The production of Moonshine was taken on by an army of armatures and often resulted in beverages that could harm or kill the consumer," Mark Thorton. (Thorton)
Despite all of this evidence that things like prohibition are not helpful at all, in fact they create more pain and problems, some people think that restrictions on alcohol would be a good thing. The World Health Organization created a new set of restrictions that they think will help put a cap on alcoholism. Inflating the price of alcohol via taxes is part of their plan. They want roadside check points where any drivers can be checked, even if there are no signs of drunkenness. The limits for alcohol breath content would also be much lower. “The average for a drunk driver killed in an accident in 2008 was .19. That's more than twice the current legal limit. Lowering it will do nothing to address the problem of hard-core drunk drivers,” (Sarah Longwell.) These and other restrictions like restricting alcohol commercials are all part of the World Health Organizations supposed cure to alcoholism (Longwell).
It seems that if alcohol restrictions weren’t effective before then there is no reason why they would work now. They will just create more problems like they have in the past. Now not only are more restrictions pending on many regions of the world, but the group Alcoholics Anonymous has come under attack for its method of treating alcoholism. A recent article attacks the 12 step method used by Alcoholics Anonymous. It is hard to believe that such a successful group with millions of followers could be considered unsuccessful. In the 1920’s and 1930’s Prohibition was enacted. Its purpose was to eliminate the many problems that alcohol created. Instead more problems were created. Today alcoholism is still a big problem. Some people think that more restrictions will help to fix these problems, but they won’t. They just create more problems and become a burden to 120,000,000 drinkers in the United States that are responsible when they drink.
Instead of imposing more restrictions on alcohol to end alcoholism and alcohol related problems, groups like Alcoholics Anonymous who help alcoholics recover and educate the public about them will be more effective. Unless we want to duplicate the outcome of Prohibition this is our only option.

















Works Cited

"Alcoholics Anonymous." Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. 2010. Grolier Online. 19 Sep. 2010 .
Longwell, Sarah. "WHO's Plan Would Punish Responsible Drinkers." Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY). 09 Jun 2010: A.6. SIRS Researcher. Web. 15 Sep 2010.
Thorton, Mark. “Prohibition’s Failures: Lessons for Today.” USA Today (Farmingdale). March 1992: 70-73. SIRS Researcher. Web. Sep. 2010.

Thornton, Mark. "Prohibition's Failure: Lessons for Today." USA Today (Farmingdale). March 1992: 70-73. SIRS Researcher. Web. 27 Sep 2010.
• Much stronger alcohol was produced during prohibition
• “The production of moonshine during that period was undertaken by an army of amateurs and often resulted in beverages that could harm or kill the consumer.”
• Toxic Alcohol related deaths went from 1,064 in 1920 to 4,154 in 1925
• “One New Jersey businessman claimed that there were 10 times more places one could get a drink during Prohibition than there had been before.”
• Illegal producers and sellers of alcohol during prohibition followed no regulations, restrictions, or limits.
• Alcoholic medicine sales doubled from 1923 to 1931.
• Alcohol for sterilization sales quadrupled from 1923 to 1931.
• The amount of suicide grew by 78% during prohibition.
• The crime rate grew by 24%
• The amount of arrested drunk drivers grew by 81%