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Subway Hero
In class we began to discuss the concept of a hero and learned about the inspiring story of Wesley Autrey, dubbed the "Subway Hero" after saving a civilian's life. -
Roy Benavidez
Continuing our study of heroism, we were read an account of Benavidez's shocking tale of exceptional valor and watched a video of him accepting a medal for his courageous deeds. Own my own I attempted to expand my own definition of a hero, knowing that - even though what Ausley and Benavidez had done was certainly heroic - you don't necessarily have to save lives to be a hero. -
Kristi Quillen
The next example on the list of heroes we had been shown was Kristi Quillen, a Peace Corp volunteer living and educating children in Costa Rica. I began to question if compassion and helping others was enough to make somebody a hero - is there a certain amount of achievements one has to acquire, or is going out of their comfort zone for a great communal purpose enough? -
Introduction of Project
Although we had been discussing heroes for several days, the project all the discussion was meant to prepare us for was not introduced until this day. We attempted to define and categorize people into different kinds of heroism, debating if sports stars like Derrick Rose, who are celebrated by the media as heroes, and political leaders like Adolf Hitler, who despite the atrocities he commited is still venerated by some, can truly be considered heroes. -
Hero Hunting
It took me a few days to fully decide on the subject of my hero project. I looked to people I have always admired - famous composers, artists, and scientists whose contributions to this world are still appreciated today - but decided to take a different approach in looking for a person whose story was not only heroic but inspiring and close to my heart as well. One of the people I considered was businessman Chris Gardner, shown in the picture. -
Dr. Benjamin Carson
After much deliberation, I finally decided to research Dr. Benjamin Carson, a renown pediatric neurosurgeon with an indcredible backstory that I knew a bit about from watching a movie based on his life. I found his autobiography on Goodreads, bought it on my Kindle, and began to read. -
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CTW Powerpoint
In class we took a few days to go through a powerpoint that further developed our own personal definitions of what a hero is and simutaneously introduced to us a future assignment in which we will write a palindrome poem about an issue detrimental to our society and generation. We also listened to the song "Youth of Today" by Amy Macdonald. -
Post #1: How I Chose My Subject
On this day I uploaded my first post to Posterous. Writing the post forced me to meditate the reasons I chose Dr. Ben Carson and what I hope to gain from learning more about him. It's easy to find a hero, but being able to find one that has an interesting and aweinspiring background like Carson's was something I felt good about. -
Post #2: Heroes in Literature and in Life
Writing my second Posterous post was a refreshing experience since I had to look back on my old personal definitions of a hero, incorporate what I had recently learned in English into my current definition, and think of how I could apply it to characters I had read about in literature. Naturally I turned to Les Miserables, our most recent novel, that explores the complexity of good, evil, and evolution from one into the other. -
Biography Passage
During class I shared a passage I found interesting from Dr. Ben Carson's autobiography, Gifted Hands. It was one of several accounts of racism he experienced when attending a public school in Detroit. Although dealing with such cruelty was difficult for him and his brother, the obstacle - just like the many others he faced in his childhood - motivated him to become who he is today.
