705 Matching Annotations
  1. Sep 2017
    1. Their colour is a diabolic die.”

      Die = dye. But what if not?

      Even if it does, what does it mean to say you've been dyed a diabolic color?

    2. Some view our sable race with scornful eye,

      Some?

      How does an eye become "scornful"?

      They VIEW the black race with a scornful EYE?

      Race makes one's perception angry.

    3. Once I redemption neither sought nor knew

      Is this a little ambiguous. I never even knew about redemption....which means...I didn't think I had to be saved?

    4. to understand That there’s a God, that there’s a Saviour too

      Taught my pagan soul to understand that there are two entities, a God and a Saviour too.

      Is this ironic at all? Taught me this story.

    5. benighted soul

      https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/benighted

      Both to be dark like night or to be intellectually in the dark

      • Look at how Jefferson's text assume this is true.
    6. Pagan

      "pagan" would have predated Christianity; Christianity actually derives from it.

    7. mercy
    1. It will be remark’d that, tho’ my scheme was not wholly without religion, there was in it no mark of any of the distingishing tenets of any particular sect. I had purposely avoided them; for, being fully persuaded of the utility and excellency of my method, and that it might be serviceable to people in all religions, and intending some time or other to publish it, I would not have any thing in it that should prejudice any one, of any sect, against it. I purposed writing a little comment on each virtue, in which I would have shown the advantages of possessing it, and the mischiefs attending its opposite vice; and I should have called my book The Art Of Virtue,  because it would have shown the means and manner of obtaining virtue, which would have distinguished it from the mere exhortation to be good, that does not instruct and indicate the means, but is like the apostle’s man of verbal charity, who only without showing to the naked and hungry how or where they might get clothes or victuals, exhorted them to be fed and clothed.–James ii. 15, 16. . . .

      Without religion.

    2. In truth, I found myself incorrigible with respect to Order; and now I am grown old, and my memory bad, I feel very sensibly the want of it. But, on the whole, tho’ I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavour, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it; as those who aim at perfect writing by imitating the engraved copies, tho’ they never reach the wish’d-for excellence of those copies, their hand is mended by the endeavor, and is tolerable while it continues fair and legible.

      I can't reach perfection, but I am better for trying it.

    3. My scheme of Order gave me the most trouble; and I found that, tho’ it might be practicable where a man’s business was such as to leave him the disposition of his time, that of a journeyman printer, for instance, it was not possible to be exactly observed by a master, who must mix with the world, and often receive people of business at their own hours. Order, too, with regard to places for things, papers, etc., I found extreamly difficult to acquire. I had not been early accustomed to it, and, having an exceeding good memory, I was not so sensible of the inconvenience attending want of method. This article, therefore, cost me so much painful attention, and my faults in it vexed me so much, and I made so little progress in amendment, and had such frequent relapses, that I was almost ready to give up the attempt, and content myself with a faulty character in that respect,

      Order gives him the most trouble

      • the difficulty of structuring artisan work around an industrial schedule -- Franklin is the proto-Taylor.
    4. I enter’d upon the execution of this plan for self-examination, and continu’d it with occasional intermissions for some time. I was surpris’d to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined; but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish. To avoid the trouble of renewing now and then my little book, which, by scraping out the marks on the paper of old faults to make room for new ones in a new course, became full of holes, I transferr’d my tables and precepts to the ivory leaves of a memorandum book, on which the lines were drawn with red ink, that made a durable stain, and on those lines I mark’d my faults with a black-lead pencil, which marks I could easily wipe out with a wet sponge. After a while I went thro’ one course only in a year, and afterward only one in several years, till at length I omitted them entirely, being employ’d in voyages and business abroad, with a multiplicity of affairs that interfered; but I always carried my little book with me

      Here he talks about how it went and his method for keeping marks of indiscretions

    5. O powerful Goodness! bountiful Father! merciful Guide! increase in me that wisdom which discovers my truest interest. strengthen my resolutions to perform what that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other children as the only return in my power for thy continual favors to me.”

      He made a little prayer. How is his conception of the Divine?

    6. Thus, in the first week, my great guard was to avoid every the least offence against Temperance, leaving the other virtues to their ordinary chance, only marking every evening the faults of the day.

      Let the other virtues hang loose for the first week or so.

    7. I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of the virtues. I rul’d each page with red ink, so as to have seven columns, one for each day of the week, marking each column with a letter for the day. I cross’d these columns with thirteen red lines, marking the beginning of each line with the first letter of one of the virtues, on which line, and in its proper column, I might mark, by a little black spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been committed respecting that virtue upon that day.

      Now he's gamifying his moral virtue!

    8. Temperance first, as it tends to procure that coolness and clearness of head, which is so necessary where constant vigilance was to be kept up, and guard maintained against the unremitting attraction of ancient habits, and the force of perpetual temptation

      Start with temperance because, quite frankly, it is the building block for all other moral virtues. Might make rash, not so smart decisions if you're drinking to elevation.

    9. I judg’d it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time; and, when I should be master of that, then to proceed to another, and so on, till I should have gone thro’ the thirteen; and, as the previous acquisition of some might facilitate the acquisition of certain others

      Not going to overdue it and jump in to all 13, but sort of take it slow, one virtue at a time. Respect that.

    10. thirteen names of virtues all that at that time occurr’d to me as necessary or desirable, and annexed to each a short precept, which fully express’d the extent I gave to its meaning.

      Derived the following thirteen virtues with short precepts:

    11. I therefore contrived the following method.

      Even though I inherently know right from wrong, it's difficult to always execute the former in practice. So, BF constructs a method -- a game -- to live life as morally perfect as possible.

    12. the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our slipping

      Slipping like Edwards' Sinners!

    13. I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other

      This sort of incredibly earnest belief in the power of human reason is the epitome of Enlightenment thought.

    14. the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection

      Being morally perfect is nothing if not a bold project.

    1. he has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it’s most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemispere, or to incure miserable death in their transportation hither. this piratical warfare, the opprobium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian king of Great Britain. [determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought and sold,] he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce [determining to keep open a market where MEN should be bought and sold]: and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he had deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another.

      Can you imagine that TJ is blaming the king for the persistence of slavery in the colonies?

    2. he has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions of existence

      He then quickly connects this "uncivlized" behavior to native American peoples and their warfare with the colonists.

      Here's Jefferson speaking out of both sides of his mouth -- as political rhetoricians are wont to do -- by stating that the British have incited indigenous peoples to attack the colonies when, in fact, the colonists are an occupying force on the land of natives.

    3. unworthy the head of a civilized nation:

      Britain is barely civilized the way they're responding to the colonists' demands.

    4. he has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people:

      This seems quite serious to be buried here, no?

    5. he has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies and ships of war: he has affected to render the military, independent of and superior to civil power

      Britain has occupied us and made their army superior to our will as civilians.

    6. manly firmness

      Hmm...

    7. all of which have in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. to prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world, for the truth of which we pledge a faith yet unsullied by falsehood

      Let the facts be candid.... HERE COMES THE CATALOG

    8. all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. but when a long train of abuses and usurpations, begun at a distinguished period, and pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to [subject] reduce them to arbitrary power, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

      Indeed, as long as evils are "sufferable" -- able to be endured -- humans will endure them. It's only when there's such a long history of abuses, as is true with Britain now, that humans have a right and duty to liberate themselves.

    9. whenever any form of government shall become destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing it’s powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes

      Here's the radical Jefferson. The founding document leaves room for further Revolution, doesn't it -- even if it adds the caveat that we can't be overthrowing governments for "transient" causes.

    10. among which are the preservation of life, and liberty and the pursuit of happiness

      Classic grand claims of the American revolution. What does it mean to have rights that are inherent and inalienable?

      What does the pursuit of happiness mean?

    11. We hold these truths to be [sacred and undeniable] selfevident, that all men are created equal and independen

      Who is the "We"?

      Why did they scrap sacred and undeniable for self-evident? Same meaning?

    12. it becomes necessary for a people to advance from that subordination in which they have hitherto remained, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the equal and independent station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s god entitle them,

      Is Jefferson suggesting there's some kind of cycle of human liberation through human history?

      What does it mean to ground freedom and equality in the name of nature and God? Why mention both of those forces -- wouldn't the latter subsume the former?

    1. OUR ENEMIES on OUR ACCOUNT, but from HER ENEMIES on HER OWN ACCOUNT, from those who had no quarrel with us on any OTHER ACCOUNT

      We are only at constant war with the rest of Europe because of GB.

    2. But she has protected us, say some. That she has engrossed us is true, and defended the continent at our expense as well as her own is admitted, and she would have defended Turkey from the same motive, viz. the sake of trade and dominion.

      Britain protected us the same as she does any colony -- we're the same as Turkey to the British.

      Interesting argument. Paine is working around the idea that Americans think of themselves as British subjects purely because they have British lineage. Using Turkey -- Williams' shorthand for Muslim, remember -- almost "racializes" the position of the colonists.

    3. that as America hath flourished under her former connection with Great Britain that the same connection is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty.

      Because it has always been this way is a terrible argument....

    4. As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation which, like an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were

      Reconciling with Britain has become impossible at this point.

    5. The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. ‘Tis not the affair of a city, a county, a province, or a kingdom, but of a continent—of at least one eighth part of the habitable globe

      This is no "City upon a Hill," no kingdom -- but an entire continent with the world to win!

    6. In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense; and have no other Preliminaries to settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to determine for themselves; that he will put ON, or rather that he will not put OFF the true character of a man, and generously enlarge his views beyond the present day.

      Insists upon simplicity and accessibility of these truths, asks the reader to strip away prejudices and loyalties and just read them as arguments.

    1. O sinner! consider the fearful danger you are in

      Closes with a direct appeal to the sinner.

    2. The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times so abominable in his eyes, as the most hateful and venomous serpent is in ours

      Intense!

      Be careful reading this here. This isn't God's condition towards human beings all of the time, just THIS God which is holding you over the pit of hell. It is still, perhaps, curious and worthwhile thinking of the emotions through which the divine deals with humanity.

    3. The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood

      Um...wow. But God's wrath is a furnace, a flood, and a bow and arrow.

      Interesting metaphor for a variety of reasons -- namely because guns were becoming the regular weapon of choice in everyday colonial life, so -- why a retrograde technology?

    4. The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose

      God's wrath is a fiery pit and a rapid flood?

    5. your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell than a spider’s web would have to stop a falling rock.

      All of these earthly concerns that we put so much stock in won't matter when it comes to the day of reckoning. They're a mere spider's web to rock of a sinful soul -- which is quite a nice image since webs are intended to be so lightweight and imperceptible in order to catch prey.

    6. You probably are not sensible of this; you find you are kept out of hell, but don’t see the hand of God in it, but look at other things, as the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed these things are nothing; if God should withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling than the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it

      You don't feel god saving you at all times -- you count individual actions and conditions among the things saving you -- well, you idiot!

    7. The use may be of awakening to unconverted persons in this congregation

      How do we apply these biblical truths: WAKE UP!!

    8. that natural men are held in the hand of God over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger

      Yikes! Sinners are right now being held in the hand of an irate God over the fiery pit of hell!

      (Again, this image might seem absurd to us, but I'd ask you to try to envision this the way we watch climate change or nuclear war scenarios now. That could give you a sense of the very real feeling of existential dread or terror endured by many in the audience.)

    9. No, I never intended to come here: I had laid out matters otherwise in my mind; I thought I should contrive well for myself: I thought my scheme good: I intended to take effectual care; but it came upon me unexpected; I did not look for it at that time, and in that manner; it came as a thief: death outwitted me: God’s wrath was too quick for me. O my cursed foolishness! I was flattering myself, and pleasing myself with vain dreams of what I would do hereafter; and when I was saying peace and safety, then sudden destruction came upon me.”

      Edwards imagines what those in hell have to say for themselves! Their testimony stands as a warning to those on earth with time to rescue their souls.

    10. The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his own, at what moment God shall permit him

      God and satan are a tag team on sinners!

    11. They are now the objects of that very same anger and[Pg 81] wrath of God, that is expressed in the torments of hell: and the reason why they don’t go down to hell at each moment is not because God, in whose power they are, is not then very angry with them

      The nonbelievers and sinful on earth are already facing the wrath of God's anger, they just remain willfully unaware.

    12. They deserve to be cast into hell

      There is no escape from or pleading with divine justice.

    13. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel that has found means[Pg 80] to fortify himself, and has made himself strong by the number of his followers. But it is not so with God. There is no fortress that is any defence against the power of God.

      Hmmm.....what do we make of the analogy to an "earthly prince" failing to crush a rebel vis-a-vis the awesome power of God? Is this a curious or suggestive parallel coming from the colonies?

    14. There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment.

      We know they're saved due to God's grace because God has ultimate power.

    15. God won’t hold them up in these slippery places any longer, but will let them go; and then, at that very instant, they shall fall to destruction

      In fact, it's been the benevolent hands of God which have thus far saved them from their own destruction.

    16. they are liable to fall of themselves, without being thrown down by the hand of another; as he that stands or walks on slippery ground needs nothing but his own weight to throw him down

      It actually won't be the active "hands of an angry god," since nonbelievers will fall of their own volition.

    17. always exposed to sudden, unexpected destruction;

      We might talk about why there's so much stress on the timing of unbelievers' destruction.

    18. That they were always exposed to destruction; as one that stands or walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall. This is implied in the manner of their destruction’s coming upon them, being represented by their foot’s sliding.

      As per the sermon structure handout I linked to a few weeks ago, Edwards begins by "opening up the text" with Deuternomy and then works through this text, explaining and applying it to the conditions faced by his own congregation in 1641 New England.

    19. their foot shall slide in due time,

      Deut. 32:35 "To Me belongeth vengeance and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.’"

    20. In this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on the wicked unbelieving Israelites, that were God’s visible people, and lived under means of grace; and that notwithstanding all God’s wonderful works that he had wrought towards that people, yet remained, as is expressed verse 28, void of counsel, having no understanding in them; and that, under all the cultivations of heaven, brought forth bitter and poisonous fruit

      https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+28:15-68

      As the Israelites refused to believe in God, so have the colonists of that "shining city" lost their way.

    1. Notion without Reality?

      This seems, um, sort of convincing to me.

    2. "Sister," quoth Flesh, "what liv'st thou on Nothing but Meditation? Doth Contemplation feed thee so Regardlessly to let earth go?

      Savage. What are you going to live on meditation - might get hungry, no?

      That line "to let earth go?" seems sort of profound. What would it mean t live in a world of pure theological speculation that all that occurs in the world of earthly appearance is considered secondary?

    3. Her thoughts unto a higher sphere.

      Worldly wealth and appearance is of a lower sphere.

    4. Lacrim

      Tears in latin.

    5. In secret place where once I stood

      Why is this place secret? Who is the "I"?

    1. None, but the Father, who sees in secret, knows the Heart-breaking Exercises, wherewith I have composed what is now going to be exposed, lest I should in any one thing miss of doing my designed Service for his Glory, and for his People; but I am now somewhat comfortably assured of his favourable acceptance; and, I will not fear; what can a Satan do unto me!

      So he has God on his side to defend his decisions.

    2. I have indeed set myself to countermine the whole PLOT of the Devil, against New-England, in every Branch of it,[Pg 5] as far as one of my darkness, can comprehend such a Work of Darkness.

      How much has the conspiratorial genre really changed, ultimately? Wouldn't Mather have his own Youtube channel in 2017?

    3. To send abroad a Book, among such Readers, were a very unadvised thing, if a Man had not such Reasons to give, as I can bring, for such an Undertaking. Briefly, I hope it cannot be said, They are all so: No, I hope the Body of this People, are yet in such a Temper, as to be capable of applying their Thoughts, to make a Right Use of the stupendous and prodigious Things that are happening among us: And because I was concern’d, when I saw that no abler Hand emitted any Essays to engage the Minds of this People, in such holy, pious, fruitful Improvements, as God would have to be made of his amazing Dispensations now upon us.

      Not all people are whipped into a fury and I -- CM -- will write this book to engage their concerns.

    4. at this extraordinary Time of the Devils coming down in great Wrath upon us, there are too many Tongues and Hearts thereby set on fire of Hell; that the various Opinions about the Witchcrafts which of later time have troubled us, are maintained by some with so much cloudy Fury,

      All the writing on witches up to this time has been clouded by anger...he is going to give the real dirt?

    5. And I may my self expect not few or small Buffetings from Evil Spirits, for the Endeavours wherewith I am now going to encounter them

      Story from Scribonious about praying away evil spirits and having those spirits attack you and -- brave minister Mather -- is sure to welcome attacks from evil spirits here for breaking the news in this book!

    6. Scribonius
    1. A Letter to the Town of Providence (1655) Previous

      Eventually, he even gets into hot water in RI.

    2. if any should preach or write that there ought to be no commanders or officers

      Interesting. He's not willing to go as far as absolutist free speech.

    3. notwithstanding this liberty, the commander of this ship ought to command the ship’s course, yea, and also command that justice, peace and sobriety, be kept and practiced, both among the seamen and all the passengers

      Williams claims that he never called for a leaderless ship. Implicitly, he's suggesting -- counter to the Puritans -- that a society can exist with order even if religious tolerance is its accepted principle.

    4. none of the papists, protestants, Jews, or Turks, be forced to come to the ship’s prayers of worship, nor compelled from their own particular prayers or worship, if they practice any

      1st principle of his "liberty of conscience" is that no individual is forced to worship the god or faith of any other.

    5. shall at present only propose this case:

      Draw out an extended analogy of the "ship of state."

    1.  In 1632, he moved to the Plymouth Colony, and in the next year returned to Salem when he had a disagreement with the magistrate, claiming that the only fair purchase of land from the Native Americans was a direct purchase.

      In December 1632, Williams wrote a lengthy tract that openly condemned the King's charters and questioned the right of Plymouth (or Massachusetts) to the land without first buying it from the Indians. He even charged that King James had uttered a "solemn lie" in claiming that he was the first Christian monarch to have discovered the land.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams#Plymouth

    1. And I may not omite hear a spetiall worke of Gods providence. Ther was a proud & very profane yonge man, one of ye[91]sea-men, of a lustie, able body, which made him the more hauty; he would allway be contemning ye poore people in their sicknes, & cursing them dayly with greēous execrations, and did not let to tell them, that he hoped to help to cast halfe of them over board before they came to their jurneys end, and to make mery with what they had; and if he were by any gently reproved, he would curse and swear most bitterly. But it plased God before they came halfe seas over, to smite this yong man with a greeveous disease, of which he dyed in a desperate maner, and so was him selfe ye first yt was throwne overbord. Thus his curses light on his owne head; and it was an astonishmente to all his fellows, for they noted it to be ye just hand of God upon him.

      One of God's special works of providence: a "lusty" man on board as cursing people daily and saying they'd get thrown over; but it was he who was smited w/ a horrible disease and died.

      • Why relate this story?
      • What's the role of God?
      • Why this depiction of the young man? What did he do wrong?
    2. Our faithers were Englishmen which came over this great [97]ocean, and were ready to perish in this willdernes;[AI] but they cried unto ye Lord, and he heard their voyce, and looked on their adversitie, &c. Let them therfore praise ye Lord, because he is good, & his mercies endure for ever.[AJ] Yea, let them which have been redeemed of ye Lord, shew how he hath delivered them from ye hand of ye oppressour. When they wandered in ye deserte willdernes out of ye way, and found no citie to dwell in, both hungrie, & thirstie, their sowle was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before ye Lord his loving kindnes, and his wonderfull works before ye sons of men.

      Bradford helps the reader understand the trials of the pilgrims through Old Testament pilgrimages -- a refugee people fleeing the "hands of the oppressors." Who are the oppressors in this case?

    3. (save upward to ye heavens) they could have litle solace or content in respecte of any outward objects. For sum̅er being done, all things stand upon them with a wetherbeaten face; and ye whole countrie, full of woods & thickets, represented a wild & savage heiw.

      There was no safe place to turn nor look -- save God in heaven.

    4. Pisgah
    5. Besids, what could they see but a hidious & desolate wildernes, full of wild beasts & willd men? and what multituds ther might be of them they knew not.

      See how Bradford is constructing the wilderness -- placing natives and "beasts" on a similar plain.

    6. Being thus passed ye vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before in their preparation (as may be remembred by yt which wente [95]before), they had now no freinds to wellcome them, nor inns to entertaine or refresh their weatherbeaten bodys, no houses or much less townes to repaire too, to seeke for succoure. It is recorded in scripture[AH] as a mercie to ye apostle & his shipwraked company, yt the barbarians shewed them no smale kindnes in refreshing them, but these savage barbarians, when they mette with them (as after will appeare) were readier to fill their sids full of arrows then otherwise.

      Here's a "woe is us" passage -- and, in all fairness, this must've been just an awful time.

      Here he entreats the reader: imagine surviving all of these hardships and your only reward is unsettled land -- no inns, no friends -- and hostile natives?

    7. seeing wise Seneca was so affected with sailing a few miles on ye coast of his owne Italy; as he affirmed,[AG] that he had rather remaine twentie years on his way by land, then pass by sea to any place in a short time; so tedious & dreadfull was ye same unto him.

      Reference to Epist: 53.

      This is probably a good time to discuss Typology, i.e. the notion that people live out biblical prophecies. Historically it's been understood to describe the way the New Testament achieves the prophecies of the Old Testament, but Christian settlers in the United States would persistently cast themselves as characters in these prophecies, too. For example, many voyages to the colonies are described as if the new settlements are a "New Israel." (https://www.theopedia.com/biblical-typology).

    8. Being thus arived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees & blessed ye God of heaven, who had brought them over ye vast & furious ocean, and delivered them from all ye periles & miseries therof, againe to set their feete on ye firme and stable earth, their proper elemente.

      Fell to their knees on the land and blessed God for their safe arrival.

    9. by Gods providence they did. And ye next day they gott into ye Cape-harbor wher they ridd in [94]saftie.

      They land in Cape Cod, consider going to the Hudson River but get tossed around by rough seas again and so they return to the harbor.

    10. And truly ther was great distraction & differance of opinion amongst ye mariners them selves; faine would they doe what could be done for their wages sake, (being now halfe the seas over,) and on ye other hand they were loath to hazard their lives too desperatly

      For their wages sake? Meaning, they'd already earned the wage?

    11. crosse winds

      ?

    12. So they com̅ited them selves to ye will of God, & resolved to proseede. In sundrie of these stormes the winds were so feirce, & ye seas so high, as they could not beare a knote of saile, but were forced to hull, for diverce days togither. And in one of them, as they thus lay at hull, in a mighty storme, a lustie yonge man (called John Howland) coming upon some occasion above ye grattings, was, with a seele of the shipe throwne into [ye] sea; but it pleased God yt he caught hould of ye top-saile [93]halliards, which hunge over board, & rane out at length; yet he held his hould (though he was sundrie fadomes under water) till he was hald up by ye same rope to ye brime of ye water, and then with a boat hooke & other means got into ye shipe againe, & his life saved; and though he was something ill with it, yet he lived many years after, and became a profitable member both in church & com̅one wealthe.

      The Mayflower runs into some real issues with winds and storms and things breaking.

      Apparently the workers are upset and waver on how to fix the situation. After some discussion, everyone decides to work together to proceed to the colony.

      Then -- another "lusty" young man is thrown overboard due to the stormy seas. This time, however, he's saved by the hand of god -- he get's trapped in the top sail -- and, according to Bradford, becomes a useful member of the crew.

      Again, what's the moral tale Bradford's conveying? What is the conception of a God who intervenes almost instantly to punish or reward human behavior?

  2. Aug 2017
    1. The Indians we had so far seen in Florida are all archers. They go naked, are large of body, and ap- pear at a distance Uke giants. They are of admirable proportions, very spare and of great activity and strength. The bows they use are as thick as the arm, of eleven or twelve palms in length, which they will discharge at two hundred paces with so great pre- cision that they miss nothing

      They are almost monstrous.

    2. cacique

      leader.

    3. The country where we came on shore to this town and region of Apalachen

      Florida.

    1. As the narrative is in my opinion of no trivial value to those who in your name go to subdue those countries and bring them to a know- ledge of the true faith and true Lord,

      Understands that his writing is in the service of colonization and conversion.

    2. Not merely a statement of positions and distances, animals and vegetation, but of the diverse customs of the many and very barbarous people with whom I talked and dwelt, as well as all other matters I could hear of and discern, that in some way I may avail your Highness

      De Vaca pitches his journal as a kind of early anthropology of native american lifeways.

  3. Dec 2016
    1. There should be jobs for everyone as unemployment is caused by greed And it’s all of those who don’t share and share alike put other souls in need.

      What does it mean that unemployment is caused by greed? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_army_of_labour)

      Also, should we be asking for the right to work, or the right to life?

  4. Aug 2016
    1. an opportunity to take ownership of a process that was inherently theirs

      That course design is a process is "owned" by students rather than professors is provocative--even if, as Chris suggests, it ought to be intuitive. Allowing students to modify a course according to their unique interests and methods of learning also ensures more personal involvement and investment in the class.

    1. Playful pedagogy aims to put learners in a flow state—that utterly absorbing state where, as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi puts it, “nothing else seems to matter” (6).

      Dewey in Democracy and Education on a similar tip:

      In their plays, they like to construct their own toys and appliances. With increasing maturity, activity which does not give back results of tangible and visible achievement loses its interest. Play then changes to fooling and if habitually indulged in is demoralizing. Observable results are necessary to enable persons to get a sense and a measure of their own powers. When make-believe is recognized to be make-believe, the device of making objects in fancy alone is too easy to stimulate intense action. One has only to observe the countenance of children really playing to note that their attitude is one of serious absorption; this attitude cannot be maintained when things cease to afford adequate stimulation.

    2. provide examples of games as pedagogical tools.

      I'll be attempting to roll out a "Reacting to the Past" role-playing game in my Early American literature course this fall. I've been considering ways to incorporate a digital aspect to the classroom performances, perhaps by way of encouraging out-of-class blog/newspaper "wars" between opposing sides.

    3. playful pedagogy uses rules as constraints that foster creativity, rather than stifle it. ¶ 8 Leave a comment on paragraph 8 0 Thi

      This is the way @jessifer talks about writing in the space of a Tweet.

      How to encourage creative rule "breaking" or evading?

    4. crafting transfers the classical rhetorical values of argumentation and persuasion to domains beyond writing and language

      I've also discovered that students assume more accountability and take more pride in "crafting"-type assignments like collaborative Wikis, Genius annotations, &c.

    5. mistakes, failures, and most importantly, second chances

      Crucial point that I find myself struggling to sufficiently explain. Often students seem reticent to write (and/or revise) drafts, and resist integrating free writing practices into the all-important "product" at the semester's end. That's not the students fault. After all, what assignments tend to make up the largest percentage of their final grade?

    6. different for every student, rather than a straight shot toward a desired destination

      Our conceptions of assessment will be transformed with "play" and process at the center of learning. No more word and page counts, or "mastery" of the argument/essay.

    7. Course objectives, learning assessments, grading rubrics, and so on.

      Absolutely! Now how to be "playful" with the requirements of an academic bureaucracy? There's surely a fine line/happy medium I can't seem to toe or grasp in my own course designing efforts. Hence, my syllabuses range from hierarchically stuffy to shamelessly irreverent.

    8. games, performances, and other “not serious” pursuits that stand “outside ‘ordinary’ life,”

      The "ordinary" as confined to the logics of commercial life and biological maintenance? Is this always true of "play"? (And isn't it a Silicon Valley ethos to introduce"play" into the ordinary life of labor--even if cynically?)