For the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad am I not - and very surely do I not dream. But tomorrow I die, and today I would unburthen my soul. My purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events. In their consequences, these events have terrified - have tortured - have destroyed me. Yet I will not attempt to expound them.To me, they have presented little but horror - to many they will seem less terrible than barroques. Hereafter, perhaps, some intellect may be found which will reduce my phantasm to the common-place - some intellect more calm, more logical, and far less excitable than my own, which will perceive, in the circumstances I detail with awe, nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects.

     This is the opening paragraph for The Black Cat, by Edgar Allen Poe. I chose this passage because of the technique Poe used to draw in the reader. He starts by introducing the character on the night before he is to executed. Just like in the Tell-tale Heart the character begins by stating the fact that he is not crazy, but perfectly sane. From that point on you know the guy went insane, even if it was briefly. That gets the reader interested immediately, and makes them want read more to find out the cause of his temporary insanity. The character explains that he is writing this so that some day someone will be able to understand the reasoning he went through, because he cannot.  To me this is a very effective way to start the story, with a psychopath claiming he is not, and trying to explain way he is not. It makes for an intriguing start to a story.

                                                  D.J. Due 01/07/13

     The "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avator and its seal - the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole world seizure,  progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour.

     This is the opening to The Masque Of The Red Death, by Edgar Allen Poe. Just from the opening paragraph we can see what this story is about, The Red Death disease. It is a very descriptive opening as well as graphic. It describes the symptoms of the outbreak in great detail, such as 'there were sharp pains and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding from the pores', it may not seem to detailed, but by adding such adverbs as 'profuse', 'sudden', and 'sharp', the violence and enormity of the plague come to light. Poe continues to describe the duration of the disease and the social status of it. He explains it as a mark of the leopards, a thing that is cause for desertion. He then ends the paragraph by giving a time frame for the disease of just half an hour.  

From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were--I have not seen
As others saw--I could not bring
My passions from a common spring--
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow -- I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone--
And all I lov'd -- alone --
Then -- in my childhood -- in the dawn
Of a most stormy life -- was drawn
From ev'ry depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still --
From the torrent, or the fountain --
From the red cliff of the mountain --
From the sun that 'round me roll'd
In its autumn tint of gold --
From the lightning in the sky
As it pass'd me flying by --
From the thunder, and the storm --
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view --

     In this poem Alone, by Edgar Allen Poe, he describes the reason for his more twisted sense of story telling. He explains that as a child he never saw things the same as other people, that his sense of perception was altered. Through the use of the analogy of a storm, he describes his childhood as unpleasant and rocky. Because of this hard childhood he cannot see things in different lights, only in unpleasant and graphic frame of mind.

     Now, at last, I thrust our stake in a bed of embers to get it red-hot and rallied all my comrades: 'Courage no panic, no one hold back now!' And green as it was, just as the olive stake was about to catch fire- the glow terrific yes- I dragged it from the flames, my men clustering round as some god breathed enormous courage through us all. Hoisting high that olive stake with its stabbing point, straight into the monster's eye they rammed it hard- I drove my weight on it from above and bored it home as a shipwright bores his beam with a shipwright's drill that men below, whipping the strap back and forth, whirl and the drill keeps twisting faster, never stopping- So we seized our stake with its fiery tip and bored it round and round in the giants eye till blood came boiling up around that smoking shaft and the hot blast singed his brow and eyelids around the core and the broiling eyeball burst.

     This passage from the Odyssey is from the cyclops' layer, during Odysseus's escape. The short story of the escape in its self  is well known. I believe one of  the reasons for this is because of the imagery that Homer uses through Odysseus's character. This small scene from the much greater text being one of the most case-making passages. The poetry used to paint the vivid picture of the cyclops going blind is so well crafted that the reader gets such a life-like image some become ill from the thoughts of the scene. Using such descriptions as "thrust the stake in a bed of embers to make it red-hot" and "I drove my weight on it from above and bored it home..." creates such an intense scene that it is hard not to get wrapped up in the brutality of the encounter. As if to make it harder to turn your eyes from the scene, Homer integrates a hint of Odysseus's madness into the scene by adding small lines like 'the glow terrific yes' and 'we seized our stake... and bore it round and round in the giants eye till... the eye burst'. Adding these small lines into Odysseus's speech, mixed with the intensity moment makes the whole process seem wonderfully mad.

     "We felt it would be like a heavyweight championship fight," Kiffin said. "There would be huge blows dealt dealt throughout the day. We talked at length about how we had to make plays, get back to the sidelines, take a deep breath in-between rounds, go back and do it again."
     Even three 17-point deficits failed to stagger the 18th-ranked Trojans.
     "They went up big but we came back and kept fighting," running back Curtis McNeal said. "When we were down 10, we were like, 'Oh, we're really in it now." We had a shot even when we were down at the end of the game."
     Yet the failure to land three punches in the first half proved pivotal. The first opportunity came on the USC's first possession, when the Trojans had to settle for Andre Haidari's 39-yard field goal on forth-and-4 at the Ducks' 22-yard line.

     This passage from the Eugene Register-Guard describes the defeat of the Trojans to the Ducks. In this passage, the author talks a lot about the Trojans and how they were confident and felt like they were in the game the whole time. He begins with a fitting analogy of a boxing match, describing it as a fight. This description was not far off. The Ducks vs. the Trojans could be described as an intense battle with an obvious victor. He continues the analogy later on by saying, "the failure to land three punches in the first half...."
     The author also talked to some of the players on the losing team. They all had the same idea of how the game went. They all seemed to think they had a chance, even when behind the entire game. It just seemed sad that the team would allow themselves to think that they ever could have won the game. The worst part of it, is that the coach led them to believe this fallacy. Now, I understand the coaches position, having to keep the teams spirit up. However, they all knew they would never win, so it just seemed pointless to get their hopes up.

The concern about concealed carry has increased among the gun-uncomfortable public since the Trayvon Martin shooting. Everyone seems worried that people with permits to carry concealed weapons are all George Zimmerman types — itching for a fight, having questionable judgment, not obeying directions from a 911 dispatcher, and unconcerned about the legal liability of using a handgun in self-defense.

None of that could be further from the truth.

One-hundred percent of concealed carry permit holders are keenly aware of all the legal and ethical issues involved. It comes as part of the training process they go through to obtain the permit.

Of course, they are all unique individuals and come from all walks of life. But people who carry concealed weapons take their responsibility seriously. Most do not have the “hero” fantasy. Most have read “In the Gravest Extreme” by Massad Ayoob and most carry their weapons carefully and responsibly.

If the permit holder is doing it right, no one else will know he or she is carrying a weapon; it never leaves the holster or its concealment for any reason.

A person carrying a concealed weapon doesn’t brag, show off or brandish it. To do so contradicts the whole idea of concealed carry.

 

     I have to agree with this author. Not everyone who has a concealed weapon wants to use it. In fact I'm sure there are some who would rather not carry a weapon around, but do it as a percaution. They would rather live in a world where we could trust a cmplete stranger with our lives without a second thought. That, unfortunatly, is not the case. Ordinary poeple are afraid of poeple they have never met, because for they know the person walking down the street toward them could be a mugger or murderer. Some people just need that extra sense of security. After all, the old saying goes "There is never a cop around when you need."

     Another frustrating trend that continued early in this game is the opponents' refusal to kick the ball to the Oregon returners, especially Thomas. In fact, the fumbled punt return by Thomas came from a kick that went end over end, and he just tried to make a play off of it. I must admit that it is a good strategy to kick the ball away from him and out of bounds so that there is no return, and then you force the offense to have to go a little bit further to get into the end zone. This kind of strategy however, is frustrating for the fans because it doesn't afford many exciting plays on special teams, which can really give life to a game if you ask me.

     As frustrating as it may be for a team to continuously kick the ball to the outside and out of bounds, it is necessary for a team that is so out matched. It was probably the only good strategy that Tennessee could come with to get around DeAnthony Thomas' speed and agility. With the on side kicks Tennessee was really trying to avoid as much humiliation as possible by denying Oregon the possible points that Thomas could have scored on the returns. After all the final score was 63 to 14, in favor of Oregon. And as for the kicks making the game boring, it was not big deal because Oregon, with their skill, can make a special play even if it's not on a return. Oregon doesn't need returns to make an entertaining game.