Blue Highways Essay Example for Free

Blue Highways Essay The beginning to an end, and round again, for Least Heat Moon was when he lost his teaching job. He figured he had two choices – to sleep the matter over or to go crazy. He chose neither. Instead, he decided to take a self-fulfilling journey in search of â€Å"places where change did not mean ruin and where Time and Man and Deeds connected. † Least Heat Moon took a circular route from one end of the United States to another using the back roads or the blue highways because he believed that â€Å"life does not happen along interstates. † He likened Life to a circular route that comes round again, to start over and anew. Least Heat Moon came from the Sioux tribe and like most Native Americans believed that those who embrace the new by discarding the old do not deserve to be honored. His trip gave him the opportunity to meet and talk to people, in the process learning from their experiences. In most cities he visited, people ask about his job. Inasmuch as he had just lost his, Least Heat Moon was vague with his replies and was tempted to answer differently each time. Someone from Grayville, Illinois thought people with nothing to do was common in any part of the country, while someone from Shelbyville, Kentucky distinguished job from work and from occupation in terms of motivation, time and money. He saw people moving and renovating homes in Kentucky. They were log cabins of 1807 and Bob Andriot took pleasure in preserving them for another two hundred years. Bob has something from the past that he is making into something new to pass on to the future. Bob’s kind is so unlike those in Frankfort which was named after their local hero, Stephen Frank. From the old Frank’s Ford it became Frankfurt out of convenience without regard of its historical significance. The entire look of Frankfurt was similarly modernized. Kentucky’s name became associated with Col. Harlan Sanders and his crispy-fried chicken. Least Heat Moon dined in Claudia Sanders Dinner House. Least Heat Moon believed nothing beats the delicious and authentic regional food served in local cafes like they did three decades or so years ago. The Hammonds of Palisades made building a boat their life, a dream made true by their relentless pursuit of it. He lodged and dined at the Shakers’ Trustees Hall, which was built in1839. The Shakers have not outlived their building for their unrealistic views of life and adversity towards progress. On the other hand, Ida, south of Appalachia, was slow to progress because of its isolation. At Gainesboro, Least Heat Moon found that even if he was traveling alone he was to an extent sociable because of the chance that he will meet someone at every stop. At Shepardsville Road, Madison Wheeler refused to part with his old store’s signage despite a tempting offer for the simple reason that he wanted to keep his name. Least Heat Moon was invited to sup at Wheeler’s table, something that Least Heat Moon appreciated noting that those who â€Å"live on little are the ones to ask you to dinner. † In Nameless, Tennessee Least Heat Moon spent an evening with the Watts who showed that him simple pleasures that last and stay in the heart like buttermilk pie, old music, hot bread and a doctor who â€Å"calms like the hand of the Lord. † He made several futile attempts to meet and talk to Native Americans, Hopi or Navajo, for fear of rejection. At Echo Cliffs in Arizona he noticed that White Men in station wagons bought beads from Indians, when it was the White Men in wagons who sold beads to Indians before. When history is repeated, there is a twist in the course of events. In crossing Colorado, the Spanish missionaries of 1776, navigated the Vermillion cliffs in 10 days, ate cactus and 2 horses, made steps to climb and cross 400-ft walls. Least Heat Moon made his in 20 seconds, sitting down. What was terrifying to the Spaniards was magnificent to Least Heat Moon. What was a hurdle to the Spaniards was a breeze for Least Heat Moon. There were 2 observation towers containing reminders of WWII in the southern part of Rehoboth Beach. The young would have no idea at all, but had they been born earlier they would have been among the fallen heroes. Glen Marshall of Smith Island found running a boat a good job because he had no boss to take orders from. , which to him was better than money. Alice Middleton thought that Island Belle brought progress to their island by bringing in provisions, news, medicine, and mails as well as transported the sick and the dying. It was their equivalent to the cars of America. Kendrick Fritz was a Hopi Indian studying Medicine at the Southern Utah State College. Fritz re-acquainted Least Heat Moon on their shared heritage. Fritz said that prejudice against Indians came from seeing them make trouble and that already made them a savage in the eyes of the White Men. The Indians hated the White Way but they enjoy their pleasures as much. Fritz would go back to Tuba, to his people, to practice medicine and money will never be a consideration. To a Hopi, religion is praying for harmony, as well as rain and crops, and a good life. A common symbol among Native Americans is the emergence or the â€Å"road of life. † People go through birth, death, and rebirth. The symbol is also about the journeys we take as well as the â€Å"cosmic patterns that human beings move in. † The Hopi Way teaches that every one is a part of one whole, a greater family. A hunter is forgiven if he hunts and kills for food, for â€Å"only life can feed life. † In the Hopi religion a person is not just one but a part of many things and that if he respects himself then he respects all things too. A person must not set himself above the rest as that would set him apart. The Hopi Way is the Way of the Spirit which is everywhere. Through his encounters with people Least Heat Moon gains insightful knowledge that it serves no purpose to hold on to the past for it will never return, but, it would be regretful if the past is totally forgotten. It is within man to renew the past, not as a repetition but an exciting variation, like the log cabins with beautiful interiors. The present should always connect to the past for there will always be something to learn from and improve on. Without Claudia Sanders kitchen, the world would never know taste of the famous Col. Sanders chicken. The rich cultural heritage of Least Heat Moon seen through the eyes and heard from the lips of Kendrick Fritz replaced his fears with pride and a deeper appreciation of the beautiful journey he had made. It gave him the answers to the questions he sought when he started out and the meaning of the â€Å"wrong turns and blind alleys †¦ fumbling and chance discoveries† he made in his trip. Walt Whitman’s Song of the Open Road from his Leaves of Grass collection was a reinforcement of the enriching lessons that came along to Least Heat Moon in his travels. Whitman’s verses spoke from the past to Least Heat Moon’s present. Despite the distance he had covered Least Heat Moon’s journey is not finished, because he discovered that â€Å"a true journey has no end. † Works Cited Least Heat Moon, W. (1982). A Journey into America. Blue Highways. An Atlantic Monthly Press Book. Little, Brown Company. Boston/Toronto.

Personal Narrative - Russias Communist Society and its Government :: Russian History

Lenin promised peace to the Russian people, but it was an illusion that never came, for the country where my great-grandfather remained with the majority of my family soon sunk into civil war. Untouched by man, the snow lay still and smooth, cloaked in white purity. Guilt filled my every step as piles of snow crumbled helplessly under my heavy feet. At the door I paused to look upon the path my footsteps had made only to become discouraged at the beauty I had destroyed. Silently, she sat by the drafty window in her dimly lit apartment. Her long, silver hair fell in frantic, unruly curls about her face, yet she made no attempt to brush them aside. When she spoke, it was not as if she was directing her words toward me, or anyone else in the room. Instead she spoke to the window and the winter winds blowing feverishly outside. She asks if I ever noticed how one could feel and smell a snowstorm hours before the first flakes begin to fall. The harsh Russian winters of her youth had left her with a sixth sense in predicting oncoming blizzards. Slowly she lets out a shallow sigh as she remembers how her family could feel the oncoming revolution months before 1917. The Bolsheviks' climb to power was a slow and involved process, much like the time it takes for a few snowflakes to turn into a blizzard. She tells how the smell of revolution was powerful enough to encourage the majority of her family to escape Russia before it was too late. Her father, however, was a Cossack, a royal officer to the Tsar and a servant to Russia. Despite the Bolsheviks' increasing power and the threat of revolution, her father remained close to the Tsar, putting himself in constant danger. For the first time, tears fill her eyes, and she tells me the sad horror that the Revolution inflicted upon her family. Like an unstoppable force of nature, the Russian communist party not only tore apart the government of 1917, but also divided families and destroyed the lives of many Russians. The woman sitting in the chair revealing her life story to me is my grandmother. Although the memories are painful for her to recall, she states how important it is to know one's heritage. As a child, I was weaned on the stories of my Russian ancestors, and in school I had read textbooks discussing the Russian Revolution of 1917.

English Channel and Resultant Displacement

An ostrich cannot fly, but it is able to run fast. Suppose an ostrich runs east for 7. 985 s and then runs 161 m south, so that the magnitude of the ostrich’s resultant displacement is 226 m. Calculate the magnitude of the ostrich’s eastward component and its running speed to the east. 1. Kangaroos can easily jump as far as 8. 0 m. If a kangaroo makes five such jumps westward, how many jumps must it make northward to have a northwest displacement with magnitude of 68 m? What is the angle of the resultant displacement with respect to north? . In 1926, Gertrude Ederle of the United States became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. Suppose Ederle swam 25. 2 km east from the coast near Dover, England, then made a 90o turn and traveled south for 21. 3 km to a point east of Calais, France. What was Ederle’s resultant displacement? 3. Cheetahs are, for short distances, the fastest land animals. In the course of a chase, cheetahs can also change direction very quickly. Suppose a cheetah runs straight north for 5. 0 s, quickly turns and runs 3. 0 x 102 m west. If the magnitude of the cheetah’s resultant displacement is 3. 35 x 102 m, what is the cheetah’s displacement and velocity during the first part of its run? 4. The largest variety of grasshopper in the world is found in Malaysia. These grasshoppers can measure almost a foot in length and can jump 4. 5m. Suppose one of these grasshoppers starts at the origin of a coordinate system and makes exactly eight jumps in a straight line that makes and angle of 35o with the positive x-axis.Find the grasshopper’s displacements along the x and y axes. 5. The landing speed of the space shuttle Atlantis is 347 km/h. If the shuttle is landing at an angle of 15. 0o with respect to the horizontal, what are the horizontal and vertical components of its velocity? 6. The fastest propeller-driven aircraft is the Russian TU-95/142, which can reach a maximum speed of 925 km/h. Fo r this speed, calculate the plane’s resultant displacement if it travels east for 1. 50 h, then turns north and travels for 2. 00 h. 7.The longest shot in a golf tournament was made by Mike Austin in 1974. The ball went a distance of 471 m. Suppose the ball was shot horizontally off a cliff at 80. 0 m/s. Calculate the height of the cliff. 8. What would be the initial speed of a projectile that is launched from a cliff 210 m high and hits the ground 420 m away from the cliff? 10. The world’s largest flowerpot is 1. 95 m high. If you were to jump horizontally from the top edge of this flowerpot at a speed of 3. 0 m/s, what would your landing speed be?

Oil Sand in Alberta - 1133 Words

Alberta is a province that is rich and abundant in natural resources such as oil sands. What are oil sands? Oil reserves play a very important role in the Canadian economy. Oil sands from areas such as Alberta have been described as â€Å"Canadians greatest buried energy treasure† by popular magazines such as Time magazine. Oil sands are a naturally existing mixture of sand, clay and other materials such as water and bitumen. Some materials in oil sands including bitumen are highly viscous that they need to be treated and refined before they can be used by industrial sites in order to produce fuels such as gasoline. Oil sands can be refined to make oil. There are approximately 170.4 billion barrels of oil that can be used in the Northern part of Alberta. Approximately 80% of the oil sands can be recovered through the In-situ production. 20% of the 80% is oil that can be recovered and purified by mining. Bitumen, a highly viscous material in oil sands is found by mining 90% of the time. While oil sands have a positive effect on us, it has a very negative effect on the environment. Oil sands have a very negative effect on aquatic ecosystems all around the world. Oil sands use up a lot of the water and energy. At present, two to five barrels of natural and recycled water are needed for every barrel of oil produced for mining. Oil sand project affect the natural aquatic ecosystems. Some of the negative effects oil sands have on aquatic ecosystems are that sometimes oil sandsShow MoreRelatedThe Oil Sands Of Alberta1194 Words   |  5 Pages Alberta Oil Industry EC239 section C Instructor: Sharif Khan GROUP MEMBERS Jiayu Weng 133004040 Liang Zhang 114161410 Jingsong Sun 114161870 Brent Bogdon 130177700 Thurairajah Thilakxshan 130937440â€Æ' I. INTRODUCTION The Oil Sands of Alberta have been a scene of controversy since the commercial production of oil began there in 1967. The Oil Sands are underground deposits made up of a mixture of sand, water, clay, and bitumen (1). 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