Salem, Puritans, the actual House of the Seven Gables and Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorn was born in Salem, Massachusetts. Coincidentally, Salem is also the setting of "The House of the Seven Gables"  Actually, quite a few of his stories take place in Salem, Massachusetts, such as "The Scarlet Letter" and "Young Goodman Brown".
Puritans were a strict peoples. For example, they expected their children to act as young adults. They were not allowed to show any emotions or be severely punished. Toys and games were strictly prohibited and their days were filled with tireless work. They saw these materialistic things as sinful distractions. At a young age, the boys started to work under masters as apprentices to later carry on the trade. They learned skills such as carpentry, hunting, fishing, and other crafts. While on the other hand, the girls were expected to stay home with their mother and help tend to the house by cooking, cleaning, sewing, et-cetera. 
The Puritans affected our lives today in many way. One for example is that it made sure that there was morality in our government. They made religion an important part of our society. They introduced the concept and trade economy. So even though the Puritans are probably not the people you probably wanted to live with, they still greatly impacted our society in many ways. 

John Procter

I believe John Procter is not a puppet and to be used by other people. He is a man of high honor and respect, a hero. Although he has done some sinful deeds, such as cheating on his wife with Abigail, I still believe that he is a good man because he is truly sorry and tries to make thing right with his family and above all else, he saves lives. By not confessing that he is a witch, he keeps his title as known by the people and his family at the price that he must hang. I also think that he is a hero because he loves his family above all else and begs for her wife to be spared until she delivers their baby. He certainly is not a puppet because he makes  his own decisions and corrects his own mistakes.

When I Knew I Was In America

I guess I sorta knew I was American when I was still young and my parents told me that I was born in Chicago, Illinois in America. So, from then on, I guess I just always considered myself to be an American without really having a full understanding on what being "American" truly meant.


I developed a better understanding of what it meant to be an American around the time I was in first or second grade. I probably realized it when I looked into my social studies book and learned about how other people live outside of my community. I saw that there was more people out there than just my neighbors an friends down the block. I read about people who lived all over the world, in Africa, Asia, South America, and many more.


I realized what it truly meant to be American probably around fifth grade when I went on vacation to the Philippines to visit family. While I was there, I noticed how differently people lived there compared to how we live here in the United States. I realized cultural diversities and that I wasn't really American (besides the fact that I'm a citizen). I was really filipino because those are the customs and traditions that I follow.

A Reason to KILL

Honestly, I think killing others to solve conflicts is just stupid. Killing others just causes more problems. Even in war, killing an opposing country is no different than murder. But, because of some twisted logic, soldiers are praised and awarded for this. So basically, the reasoning of our country is "Its ok to destroy the lives of families somewhere else, as long as its not here." That's horrible.
Why can't problems be solved through civil nagotiation? Why must we be so barbaric and kill others to get what others have and what we want. That's just selfish, and if you learned anything in preschool and kindergarten, its that sharing is caring.
Why not play a nice friendly game of chess to decide the winner of an argument? Checkmate, now surrender to me. Can't it be that simple? But no, people have to be stubborn and risk their own people to fight for their country, kill a ton of people, and come home heroes, if they come home at all.
So basically, I think killing is stupid. The only way a person should die is from either sickness or age and nothing else. Dieing in any other way is just stupid.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

So after reading that passage, I realized that there are many different ways to look at God than by the usual way taught to us by the Catholic church. Jonathan Edwards sees God, as if he were some cruel 
puppet-master. He talks as if God is controlling your life with strings attached to his fingers and only keeps you there for his own amusement. He says If God wishes so, he can cut you off at any moment and send you straight to hell. According to him, you have no choice or any chance of persuading God and that he will drop you whenever he pleases (maybe even when you least expect it).
Now this is very disturbing for me to imagine. I prefer to picture God as a loving person who welcomes anyone and anything into his arms and into heaven. If this interpretation of God were true, I would much sooner switch religions than pray to that guy.

There Goes The Neighborhood!

So here is a story from back when i was in 7th grade. Basically, I went to a small Catholic School, where most of the kids were oblivious to what really happens in the world. So, sometime around the middle of the school year, the teacher tells us that we have a new kid coming to the school and will be in our class. I won't use his real name for his sake, I'll just call him Bob. So for the next couple of months, Bob becomes all of our friends. He was cool, funny, and pretty athletic. He seemed like a normal guy.
So, one day, during lunch, he says he's not really hungary, and gives his lunch to my other friend. This seemed weird, because he usually is always hungary. Then all of a sudden, out of no where, he pulls a pocket knife out of his pocket and starts cutting his wrists! As you can imagine, this is a lot to take in for us. So anyways, he asks us to not tell anyone. Out of panic, we agreed to this. After probably another week of this, I guess one kid had had enough and said something to the teacher (to this day, I still don't know who told the teacher about this). So, the teacher talked to him and he got some help. After he seemed to be "cured", he just left the school (weeeeiiirrd). And from then on, until the end of the school year, we had a school assembly probably every week or so about how we should discuss our problems with our teacher and not to cut ourselves. Each one was longer and more boring than the last. That kid really changed our school.

My Introduction

Hi everyone! My name is Carl Isada. I am currently fifteen years old and I am a sophomore at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School.


I live with my dad (Carlito Isada), mom (Sherry Ann Isada), my little brother (Brad), and my little sister (Shayla).


My hobbies are, playing sports, video games, hanging out with friends, using the computer, biking, and occasionally reading (if the book is good).


13 Random Facts About Myself:
1. My middle name is Andrew
2. My favorite color is red.
3. My favorite animal is a T-rex.
4. I attended St. Pascal's Catholic School from preschool to eighth grade.
5. I want to become a chemical engineer when I'm older.
6. I know how to play guitar.
7. I am Filipino.
8. My birthday is July 22, 1995.
9. I am not very good at taking care of pet fish. 
10. I know how to solve a rubik's cube.
11. My favorite movie is Batman: The Dark Knight
12. Math is my best subject.
13. My lucky numbers are 3 and 13 (even though most people think its unlucky).


I hope this introduction has helped you learn a little bit about myself.


(And if you didn't notice, there are 3 #13 in this post. I have a good feeling about this.)