Star Wars 6

"The hero's journey into the center of yourself"
How is this true for both Luke and Anakin (Darth Vader)?

This quote is true in many ways for Anakin and Darth Vader. In order for them to find each other, find the innner power of good, and become a true jedi and hero they had to look deep into their souls.

Luke Skywalker knew he had a father, but he had no way of finding out who he was without someone telling him. But, he was able to look into his heart through determination and passion and find out who his father was. When they went into war, Luke knew his father was on that ship because he could feel him. Same with Darth Vader, he could feel his son's presence and knew it was his son before even seeing him.

Once father and son were reunited, Luke had to ask his father to look into himself to find the good that was buried by the desire for power. Because Luke could feel the good of his father in his soul, he had faith that he would return. But, because Darth Vader buried the good inside of him so long ago, it took a lot of convincing and something huge for him to him to remember. When Darth Vader's master was killing his son, one of the reaons why he turned to the dark side, he was able to realize how lost his soul truly was. Once he overthrowed the Sith and returned to society he became a true hero, right before his death.

When Darth Vader overthrew the sith, everything he used to stand for returned. He stood up and helped the jedi he once betrayed. He made his deceased wife proud, by returning to his original righteous beliefs. He made his son proud, by meeting him and not only saving his life but by doing the good thing.

This movie was a battle between good and evil and in order for the good to win, Anakin and Luke had to look into the center of their selves. Once they were able to do that, good prevailed and they became heroic.

Star wars

Which archetype does Anakin/ Darth Vader fit? Why? Can he ever truly return to his society? Why or Why not?

Anakin/ Darth Vader fits many archetypes. He could be the hero as warrior, a near god'like figure who faces physical challenges everyday. Or he could be the Hero as lover, because his quest ends when he switches to the dark side to save his wife's life during child birth. Or some might refer to him as the Romantic/ Gothic Hero because he is a hero and lover with a dark side. But, the archetype that best describes Darth Vader is the Superheroic. Definition, Exaggerates the normal proportions of humanity; frequently has divine or super natural origins. In some sense, the super hero is one apart, someone who does not quite belong, but who is nonetheless needed by society.

Anakin fits this archetype because of his amazing jedi powers. He was the chosen one. He was the best jedi fighter, and he was the youngest. His society needed him in order to defeat the sith, without him all hope was lost. Yet, he didn't fit in with society because of his powers, even more so when he switched to the dark side.

Darth Vader will never be able to return to society because of his new appearence, past actions, and his change of heart. When Anakin decided to go to the dark side to gain more power he betrayed all the jedi, his entire society, and his wife, everything he lived for. Now that he has supposedly gained more power by turning to the dark side, the society he used to be accepted by and looked up to as the chosen one will never be able to trust him again.

With his new appearence, it will change the way the people view him, although his physical image should have no effect on his mental image it will change. Because he almost died and his body was destroyed, his master had to reconstruct his body by creating a robotic figure with a mechanical voice. A machine.

His betrayal of the jedi will never be forgiven. He will have to sacrifice himself to ever be accepted by society again. He changed sides because of the love he had for his wife, even though she was not in favor of it. The only way he would be able to return and live in society is if his wife was there to take him back, but becuase of her death it will never happen.

Finding Nemo

In Finding Nemo there are two hero's journies. After reviewing the info on Archetypes- who are the heroes? What are their thresholds, trials, innermost cares? How are they each changed upon their return to their society?

The very enertaining and amusing kid show, Finding Nemo, also displays two heroic archetypes. Marlin and Nemo fit the archetype criteria to a tee. Marlin is a hero as a warrior, where as Nemo is a hero as a lover.

Marlin is inexperienced, and never travels into the deep sea because Coral, his wife, got ate by a baracuda. In order to prove his love to his son and not suffer another loss, he has to face his fear of the dark mysterious ocean. Along his jouney he encounters many deep sea monsters or sharks and whales. He has a short term memory loss fish, Dory, as a mentor helping him along his journey. He swims across the ocean just to find his son, Nemo, who was captured and put into a fish tank located in a dentist office in Sydney, Austraila. He learns along his journey that he needs to worry less of his son, because eventhough he has a small fin, he is able to care for himself.

Nemo is naieve and inexperienced, the monster he encounters is a boat that takes him away from his home which he never ventures from. Gill, is his old, wise, and strange mentor as well as his teacher. Nemo's threshold would be the fish tank, he wants to deperately escape with all the other fish and be released into the ocean. While he is trapped in the fish tank he goes through initiation, so he can become part of a different family and help the trapped fish escape. Then he risks his life twice by trying to stop the tank filter. The only thing he cares about is getting back to his father, who he realizes how much he truly appreciates and how much he loves. Before Nemo was taken away he told his father "I hate you," after his journey he apologized and learned a valuable lesson.

These two heroes experience more than they ever have before on their dangerous and courageous journey. Once Nemo and Marlin finally meet, they realize how much they take each other for advantage and their relationshship grows. Their relationship will never be the same.

Is it worth it?

Are all the risks in California such as earthquakes, heat waves, flash floods, volcanoes, wild fires, and random thunderstorms worth dealing with, just to live in the Golden State?

Last summer California alone experienced over eight hundred wild fires making national news on a daily basis. With so many fires, I had to spend most of my time in doors instead of swimming in my pool. Our community was trapped in doors, being forced to exercise inside, because it was almost impossible to breathe outside let alone exercise. Being located on top of the San Andreas Fault Line and having two volcanoes, California experiences multiple earthquakes every day. Some are worse than others, around 25-30 years ago the Capitol of the Golden State was destroyed from an earthquake. Buildings toppled, bridges collapsed, highways crumbled, and people were killed. Plus the weather is so unpredictable in California, one day it is eighty degrees the next day there is eight to twelve inches of rain flooding the rivers and drowning the valleys. Plus in the summer, it rains possibly once a month, and with degrees reaching 120 it is a necessity to have a pool or live next to water.

However California, is the Golden State, and is the best State to live in. I mean come on Arnold Schwarzenegger is the Governor. Even though California has some negative qualities, when you look at all California has to offer the negative becomes invisible. California, if it was a country by itself, the agriculture we produce here would make California the seventh country in the world for producing agriculture. With all the different climate zones, people are able to grow all sorts of vegetables and plants. I actually planted a garden last summer with watermelon, cantaloupe's, tomatoes, green onions, carrots, peppers, and cherry tomatoes, and that is just in my climate region. There are twelve or more climate zones/ regions in California. You are able to plant almost anything you want in California and have it grow, because of all the beautiful climates.

California offers the most amazing views in the world. In the summer the sky is pink around the mountain tops in the morning and bright orange, pink, and red as the sun sets. In the winter as I'm driving to school I can see that I'm surrounded by mountains and there are so many beautiful colors, numerous shades of blue for the mountain colors, with the whitest snow settling on the top, with many different colors of green because we have so many types of trees growing in our area. As I'm driving to work it's hard to pay attention to the road with the clear view of Mt. Shasta gleaming from the sun in front of me and to my right Mt. Lassen with a never ending view of the Cascade Mountain range. But this is just northern California where there are many cow fields and few buildings.

Travel a few hours south passing hundreds of rice fields, orchards, wildlife, and crop duster and you will run into Sacramento, our capital, and you will see sky scrapers and beautiful buildings and ancient artifacts and museums. Or you can go to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and visit Alcatraz, Pier 39, the San Francsco Zo, or the amazing Orpheum Theater. Oh there are so many things to do in the bay. Go to the Santa Cruz Board Walk on the beach, the Monterey Bay Aquarium or if you are daring enough go to a Raider's or A's game in Oakland. Plus we have the beautiful White beaches in California, such as Pismol by San Luis Obispo, San Diego, Santa Barbara. The San Diego Zoo, including a safari is a lot of fun and a great experience. Also we have Amusement Parks like Disney Land located in the second largest city in the United States, Marine World/ Six Flags, Great America.

California is home of the celebrities. Most movies are made in Los Angles. Most game shows are located in Los Angeles. We have Hollywood and Beverly Hills. That TV show Laguna Beach, was made in Laguna Beach, CA. House Wives of Orange County, guess where that is located. Also, Hugh Heffner's Playboy Mansion is in Los Angeles. Plus, famous singers come to perform many shows and concerts in California, at least once a month famous celebrities perform concerts with in three hours of my house.

California has great education opportunities. For example, Cal Arts, the college Walt Disney created to train animators and artists. UCLA and USC are top division schools and all their sports are televised. We have numerous junior colleges, private schools, and universities. We have 23 California State Universities and ten Universities of California. Including UC Davis where many medical discoveries and miracles are held.

California has so many beautiful missions reflecting the Spaniards located all along the coast that have been kept up throughout the years. We had the Gold Rush, and people still mine for gold, except now we have machines instead of pans. We have many Indian tribes and Casinos all over. I can't forget about the incredible redwood forest located on the north coast! Patrick's Point is where trees are so big cars can drive through them and you cant even see the tops. These forrest's are immense and the trees are more than ten feet wide.

California is the place to be, if you never have visited you should. Because I have lived here my whole life I can't compare it to any other state, but something tells me that there is no comparison. Sure California can be seen as a scary dangerous place to live, but your eyes aren't open if that is all you see.

Nikki Catsouras Case

Should this family win their legal battle, or is this truly a free speech issue? If this had been one of your family members- how would you feel? Most news agencies would not show these photos- should they be allowed on the internet- or does the internet need to remain unfettered?

The Catsouras family should win their legal battle, but it would be next to impossible to truly get what they are looking for because unhumane photos being posted on the internet is something that will continue to exist. The dead, practilly decapitated body of Nikki Carsouras should have never been let into the public eye. If the two CHP officers, Thomas O'Donnell, 39, and Aaron Reich, 30, wanted to send emails to their relatives to encourage driving safety they could have easily sent them the pictures of the mangled porsche, with the hub cap being the only recongnized car part, and an overview of what happened, and it would have engraved a huge effect if not the same as the pictures of the teenager's body.

If the coroner would not even allow Nikki's parents to identify her body because of how distorted and ruined her body was, then why is it okay for those police officers to send pictures to anyone. The parents should be the only people who have a right to view their daughter's remains, no one else in the universe should have that right except for the people who have to do it as part of their job. As a part of their job, crime scene photographs of a deceased body should be kept confidential.

What happened to the Catsouras family, is not a free speech issue it is clearly harassment. If someone can be sued for something as simple as calling someone too many times or accidently brushing someone as they walk by in a crowded area, sending pictures of a girl with her head hanging out the window barely attached to her neck to her own father with obscene messages attached should be considered harrassment. Yes the Bill of Rights provide freedom of the press and freedom of speech, but when it is harming someone and costing them thousands of dollars to avoid, that is not protected by the constitution.

If this unfortunate circumstance had happened to one of my family members, I would feel obligated to leave the country. I would not be able to live every day of my life in fear of seeing and reliving the horrific accident that most people spend every day of their life trying to forget. It is unfair that this family is haunted every day of their lives of their beloved daughter's and sister's death.

Yes, suing has gotton out of control these days. People try to sue everyone for everything, including Mc Donalds for making you fat...wow, what has this country came to? Suing will not bring their daughter back, no matter what they do. But maybe for them it feels that if they sue they are preventing this from happening to other families. No maybe, they should not sue the whole Polie Department but they should definitely sue the people who leaked the photos, and if it was possible the people who sent the disgusting emails. They need to win something to prove that they can do something about this, to prove they still have control over their lives. I believe this is more of a mental law suit than anything.

Any photo of a deceased person (as deceased) should be deleted from the internet, there should be a law forbidding anyone to put a picture of the deceased online. No one should have the right to look at anyones dead body, the only reason humans do it is becuase of curiosity. How would you feel if your family member's decapitated head and mangled body was posted on the internet for everyone, all your friends, relatives, clients, employees, or even bosses to view. Clients like to research you and so do employers they can check your myspace or google you, but everytime they do this they will get thousands of sites showing their daughter or sister's accident. This unfortunate event should never happen to any family again. With all the new technologies we should know how to prevent this.

Michael Vick

Tell if you think Michael Vick, or any other sports figure who has been convicted of a crime, should be allowed to play again. Why or why not? BE SPECIFIC.

When sport stars are convicted of a crime or break the law, the judge always seems to be more lenient with their sentence because of their amazing talents and their wealthy amount of money. Michael Vick, the NFL Falcons quarterback, was convicted for his infamous Bad Newz Kennels where he hosted dog fights. The authorities seized fifty-one dogs from Michael Vick, and by July 20, 2009 he will be eligible to start playing football again. Because NFL as well as all sport stars are admired by children around the world, are part of the Make a Wish Foundation, and other organizations that help neighboring communities, part of their punishment should be banishment from all professional sport teams.

The Superbowl is the number one televised and watched program on television each year. Because there is as an average of two televisions in every home and many adults watch sports, children become exposed to sport teams at a very young age and they grow up around it. Some children are more involved with sports than others, most have a favorite team or even a favorite player. When their favorite player is convicted of a crime, and the next year or two years later they are playing again, what does this teach the learning, susceptible mind of a child?

The NFL has became more involved with communities and children throughout the years. They sponsor many activities in their off season and build play grounds and parks for children who don't have those advantages. They are always on commericals, most of the time there is a child in the commercial with them, and they are speaking to the kids and encouraging them "to get out there and play". Most of the wishes granted by the Make A Wish Foundation involves a child meeting his favorite sport player. Sport players have an extreme impact on a child's life. If a childs last wish is to meet a football player, how does this effect a child when that football is arrested?

An autograph means so much to a child and to some kids it means the world. Going to a football or baseball game should be a family activity, but now it's better for your childs safety to watch the game on television. Fans have been associated with violence in the last few years, as more and more players are convicted eiher because of DUI's, dog fighting, or violence. The professional sport teams have an impact on not only children but adults too. Adults should know better, but some people are so obsessed with sports, it can't be healthy.

Because sports play an extreme part of the American life, if NFL players such as Michael Vick break the law they should be banned and never allowed to play again. He had his fame and made his money, and took advantage of it by using it in a negative, immature way. He should not get a second chance. History repeats itself, he is untrustworthy and no famous sports star should be allowed a second chance, especially if they cause harm to others.

Stuck at Prom

Senior year students begin to get creative with choosing their prom dress, but how far does creativity go before it becomes weird? Since 2001 the Duct Tape club has been giving out 3,000 dollar scholarships to those who can make the best prom dress out of duck tape. Very few of the dresses and suits look like something a couple would wear to prom.

There are many advantages to having a duck tape prom dress. It is less expensive than buying a brand new prom dress, all you need to buy are a few roles of duct tape and possibly some paint and wire. No one else at the dance will have the same dress. It is very creative and neat, and can be supportive. Also, it might earn someone 3,000 dollars for college.

But, there are also numerous negativities about a prom dress made from ducktape. It would be very uncomfortable, especially if the owner of the dress enjoyed dancing. I imagine the duct tape on your skin would create a lot of perspiration. Plus the dress would be heavy, stiff, and hard to move in. It probably won't be as pretty as all the other dresses made from fabric. Plus when this trend ends, the picture will always be there. Duct tape is associated with red necks and some might refer to wearing a duct tape prom dress as trashy.

Because I'm not creative, love to shop, and am not much for standing out I would never wear a duct tape prom dress. I love to dance and am not one for sweating and feeling sticky. I love comfort and beauty and want my dress to express that.