Anne Boleyn and Catherine of Aragon.

Henry the VIII is a very well known man, well known for being King, of course, but also, for having had six wives, only one of which outlived survived. Henry was known to be a picky man, his woman had to be beautiful, she had to be nice, but most of all, his wife, the Queen of England, had to be able to provide him with a son; a male heir to the throne.

In 1509, Henry married his first wife, Catherine of Aragon; she was quite young at the time. Catherine was the youngest (surviving) child of Ferdinand and Isabella. Catherine’s parents had arranged for her to be married to Arthur, Henry VIII younger brother, Catherine and Arthur got married in 1501, but Arthur soon died of ‘sweating sickness’ seeing as their marriage wasn’t consummated, Henry soon took the place of his younger brother, and married Catherine himself. Catherine struggled to provide Henry with a male heir to the throne, she had miscarriages, still born children, and children that lived only for a couple of days; that was until she gave birth to their daughter, Mary, who survived. Soon enough Henry got frustrated by the lack of a male heir, and took this out as if it were Catherine’s fault. Catherine grew too old to provide him with any more children, and by this time, Henry had already fallen for Anne Boleyn, Catherine used her daughter as a sort of plea to stay with Henry, but it was no use, he divorced her, when it was discovered that Anne Boleyn, was pregnant.

Anne Boleyn married Henry in 1533, at the age of 24. Anne grew up partially in France, where she learnt how to speak French fluently, and learned to appreciate French fashion, poetry, and music. It was rumored that Anne had six fingers. Henrys marriage to Anne was done secretly as it was before he had finalized his divorce with Catherine. Henry saw this as being okay though, as he didn’t consider his marriage with Catherine as valid. When Anne’s child was finally born, it was a girl, Elizabeth. She tried again a few times, but she miscarried, she blamed this on stress. It soon became obvious that the king had taken interest to Jane Seymour, and the court used this to start taking Anne down, even King Henry’s ‘right hand man’ Cromwell was in on it, and he convinced Henry to sign off an investigation on Anne, one that would take her down. The queen was soon arrested with charges of treason, adultery, and incest; Anne Boleyn was executed on Tower hill.

Both Anne and Catherine were two different women, with very similar outcomes both women were eager to please, and tried their best, but neither one was good enough. Catherine and Anne both struggled to provide Henry with a son, but provided him with a daughter instead, and both had many miscarriages. I think another big similarity between both of the women is the depression they must have gone through, Henry moved on very quickly, and they were aware of the ‘other woman’ that was going to replace them. 

Utopia!

*Insert interesting name here*

Utopia: noun; any visionary system of political or social perfection; an ideal place or state.

FREE ICECREAM FOR ALL

A utopia is known to be a place of fantasy, of fiction, many people strongly believe it’s not a place that could be created. Everything you do in your Utopia, will contradict something else, but is it really impossible? With a lot of thought, you could come to a solution. For example, if you were to make your ‘national’ food cheese, a problem that could occur is that some residents may be allergic to cheese, your solution? Allergies won’t exist in your community. There is of course the problem with distinction between fantasy and reality, you can’t really banish allergies, it’s not possible, and so, we’ll just make allergy-free cheese. It really is that simple.

A utopia generally speaking should be a place for all, but that would mean making the whole world one big happy family, which doesn’t seem to be working, so there will have to be some restrictions, before entering said community there will be a quick background check to make sure you have a clean criminal record, and don’t have any outstanding debts. And with a problem of overpopulation, the community will feature 300 residents to begin with, and possibly expand at a later date.  Free of any criminal situations, anyone is welcome; there is no restrictions or limits on gender or age. Life will continue as normal within the community, except there will be a few extras to keep everyone happy. There will of course be a small government and courthouse, to keep some order in this utopia, and settle any disputes that need settling, and any laws that have been broken. All laws shall be stated upon entering this utopia, nothing crazy, just a few guidelines to keep everything from going crazy…

Money is always an issue, wherever you go, so here, all money you have (any currency) will be changed into one type of currency we can use universally. Work will continue as normal, with a bit more flexibility on working hours, and higher pay, if any family ever falls into debt (which is doubtful) there will be a financial aid system set up to help those in need. We don’t feel the need to distinct between the ‘higher class’ of people and the ‘lower’ everyone is treated with equal respect, and all hard work is acknowledged, upon moving in, you will each have a choice of house you want to live in, some bigger some smaller (depending on the amount of people living in it) but all based on the same idea and concept, and all children must go to school to get an education, there is a small fee upon registering your child for the school, but further tuition fee’s are free of charge, as are all medical bills, once you get insurance.

All houses have gardens which we would appreciate you looking after, the environment is a beautiful place, who are we to destroy it? There will be an environmental group, going around making sure everything stays under control, and nothing is polluted, hence our ‘green’ vehicles that are charged either by solar panels, or by electricity, and produce the least fumes possible. We also strongly believe in fun, everyone should have fun, school should be fun, work should be fun, life should be something you enjoy, not something you are forced into living, day after day. With necessary restrictions (e.g. no skateboarding into oncoming traffic) the people of the community are encouraged to enjoy them selves, with on site swimming pools, equestrian centers, fitness centers, arts and crafts halls, etc. to make anyone’s day, everyday.

This utopia will also be populated by a herd of unicorns, which are all very loyal and domesticated.

If you really work hard to make sure everything works together, a utopia CAN be achieved, it will be a rough at first, but within a couple of months, when all the glitches are sorted, you will have a happily running utopia. Sure, it wont be perfect ALL the time, but it’ll be close, very close.

The Battle of San Romano

The Battle of San Romano, by Paolo Uccello

This painting comes from a set of three paintings, by florentine artist Paolo Ucello, all three paintings show events from the Battle of San Romano. The Battle of San Romano was fought in June 1432, and it was a Battle between Florence and Sienna, it lasted for about 6/7 hours of heavy cavalry fighting, and even though the results favor the Florentines, the Sienese considered it a victory. This painting shows some linear perspective which was a big deal for that time period, it was painted using Egg tempera. In this time period, popular artworks had to meet a certain criteria, it had to be religious, painted realistically, go back to the Roman or Greek times, or be painted using perspective, and this painting was not only realistically painted, but it used perspective, which then meant that it met the criteria for art work.



"The Battle of San Romano." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 21 Sept. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_San_Romano>.

Vandal.

I woke up this morning to the sound of rushing feet, i could smell the energy in the air, everyone was excited, i jumped out of bed, and i went outside to see what was up.

I soon discovered it was Pablo, our tribe leader, he had found our next country of invasion. We, the Franks, would take over France, and take their shelter, and fertile soil. Many of us are settled in different areas, but we will gather together, and join in France, for now.

Were taking everything, all our shields, all our swords, it's crazy, we're all so excited, even the farmers are coming, with their pitchforks and shovels, i can't wait, this is going to be a marvelous journey.

The 9/11

Ten years ago, on this very day, terrorist attacks caused a plane to crash through, and destroy the twin towers in New York; but have all the after effects subsided?

September 11^th, 2001 was an overall negative experience, and a devastating day as a whole for everyone, for the whole world. Terrorists took control of aircrafts, and caused them to crash into the World Trade Centers (The Twin Towers). People lost lives, friends, relatives…the whole world was affected by the tragic events of that day.

The months that followed the attacks were difficult for many. People were mourning the deaths of their relatives, friends, and loved ones; but for some it went deeper than that. An event this large, that caused that many deaths, and that much damage, affected some people deeply. Depression, sleeping disorders, and many other mental health issues arose around this time, with people struggling to grasp the reality of what had just happened to their nation. But are people still suffering now? They are, all over the world, the impact of the 9/11 is still greatly felt, whether it’s through the mourning of loved ones, or through the heartache and depression, on this day, every year, they are reminded of the tragic events, and the brave firefighters who risked their lives to try and save others.

The 9/11 didn’t just affect Americans, it affected the whole world, and left everyone speechless, how can someone purposely take innocent lives? This is a question still un answered, but one commonly asked. Terrorism as a whole has decreased since September 11^th, as bigger security measures have been taken, and more awareness has been raised, but it hasn’t stopped as a whole.

I don’t understand how a person could take innocent lives, and how people are still doing it all over the world, the after effects of the 9/11 attacks will never subside, and the month of September will be a constant reminder of everything that happened that day.

The 'Dark' ages? agree or disagree.

I agree.
In my opinion, the term dark ages is well-fitting to the middle ages. When the term 'Dark' is used, we think of sad, bad, depressing times. Which is true in this case, as there was nothing good about the middle ages. Many things contributed to the darkness of these times, most of which caused sadness or death, these being Diseases, new methods of torture, and the constant war.

Disease was very widespread during these time, as people came in contact with many viruses, and by spreading across towns and cities, spread the germs and infected large populations. A major one being the black plague. The black plague spread easily, and quickly, as did Leprosy, and without todays technology, no cures were found, and so many people died. Skin disease was also very common among peasants, as the wool they wore often caused skin problems which were very widespread.

The people of the middle ages strongly believed in torture, to prove innocence or guilt, and to get confessions. Many different torture methods were used, each equally painful, and terrible as the next. such as the torture of dislocation, where they dislocated your joints, 'The Rack' where you were stretched out, and being burned alive.

War also played a big role in the middle ages, there was constant fighting, over one thing or another, as soon as one war ended, another one started. Cities were pillaged and ruined, people were killed, the economy was destroyed.

Some good things may have arisen from these dark ages, but so did many deaths, and lots of torture, so in my opinion, the term 'Dark ages' describes this time period very effectively.