YOur response is well written. It wasn't part of the assignment, but thinking about it how could you now weave an EQ into that piece? Someting to think about. As I said before, well done. Oh, next time we need to put page #'s after we quote, but I know the short stroy copy I handed you, they were cut off.
Mrs. C

Ambition

Ambition: an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction and the willingness to strive for its attainment.

Why it exists:

• Life does not hand you everything you want, you have to work towards them. This is ambition.
• Without it, nothing is achieved.
• The things we strive for create purpose in our individual lives.
• It is not only to dream about achieving a goal, but it is the amount of drive that one has in themselves to actually take action in their journey towards it.

Ways to get it:

• To be passionate in achieving a dream, or goal.
• To have a strong drive within yourself to take action in achieving this goal.

Ways to maintain it:

• Continue taking action steps towards your dream.
• Push yourself forward to give yourself motivation and determination.
• Always keep focussed on what you want to achieve.

Ways one would use it:

• It is used to achieve a certain desire.
• It gives one a greater, more positive perspective on life's possibilities, opening doors that may have not been seen prior to having a strong sense of ambition.

Ways one could lose it:

• Discouragement through failure, obstacles, or stress.
• Completely giving up.
• Discovering something else that they are more passionate about; the ambition for the old desire has now disappeared.

How it affects people:

• It makes people strive for something.
• It gives people purpose and determination in life.
• Witnessing another's ambition can inspire or influence your own.

Other things about it:

• Without the ambition of the people, the world would never change.
• The more you have, the more that you can achieve.
• Anything that you want to achieve, you need ambition to accomplish it.
• Ambition creates reality in life, instead of looking at goals/dreams from a distance.
• It helps one recognize what is important to themselves in their life.

Ambition and the other terms:  the word ambition greatly relates to the other terms in that they all have to relate with people, and the way that we naturally are. Ambition is natural within humanity. Another direct connection to ambition is the term power, in which with no ambition in one,  the power that comes with an achieved desire will not exist. The final three words: integrity, loyalty, and self-worth, are characteristics of ambition because they shape one's self and and show the type of drive within them.

Identity: Final Project

EQ: How our identities are affected by our relationships with other people.

[click on image to view full size & to read the text]

Something I forgot to include in the collage:

In regards to 'The Charmer', Zack's character negatively affects his family progressively, as he becomes more and more rebellious, withdrawing his attention from his family and towards unfortunate habits.  His sister, Winnifred is positively affected (stated in the collage), but because of him, Zack's Mother becomes mentally unstable and later on greatly regrets all the wrongs that she had let Zack get away with.

Yeah that's my final project, yayayayaya!!!

"Just Lather, That's All" Visual

This Spider-Man poster is comparable to the short story, "Just Lather, That's All" in that Spider-Man's character relates to the Barber's.  These to characters are paralleled in one another in that Peter Parker is not only himself, but he is Spider-Man as well, and having these two identities do not affect his actions of either of them. For example, when he is Spider-Man, he does not allow his (Peter Parker) grudges affect his task at hand as Spider-Man.  This is just like the Barber.  The Barber is not only a barber, but also is a rebel.  However, the Barber does not allow his Rebel alias affect the job he is doing, for it is also his profession to provide service as a barber, in which he does only, giving Captain Torres a clean-shave without making a slit in his throat.

"Just Lather, That's All" by Hernando Tellez

EQ: How are people transformed through their relationships with others?

In the short story, 'Just Lather, That's All' written by Hernando Tellez, the relationship between the Barber and the client changes both their perspectives on the situation that their town is in.  The two characters are quite different; the client is Captain Torres, the head chief of the soldiers that are raiding the town, while the Barber is secretly a rebel, a member of the Revolutionaries that the soldiers were hunting down and murdering.

Through this beard-shaving encounter between the Barber and the Captain, each of them are transformed by the actions and qualities of one another in which they were not expecting.  Coming into the barber shop, the Barber instantly recgonized the presence of the Captain, and fear struck into him.  The dimlemma of either being professional and strictly shaving the Captain's beard or either taking one for the Revolutionaries and becoming a hero by murdering Torres is present in the Barber's mind throughout the story.  Going into the barber shop, Captain Torres took a risk knowing that the Barber was a rebel, and many people had told him that the Barber would kill him, which is what he expected by the end of his shaving.

However, both of the two characters were taken by surprise through the actions of each other.  The Barber chose to be professional with Captain Torres, for he had come in to get his beard shaven, and the Barber felt it was his job to do just that.  For at the time, he was just a barber, not a rebel.  In addition to that, the Barber came to the realization that if he were to murder Captain Torres, that would make him no better than the soldiers who were hunting down the rest of the rebels.

Captain Torres is surprised by his clean-shaven face by the end of the story, for he had been told that he would die if he went into that barber shop.  Grateful that he came out alive, the Captain came to understand that not all rebels were the same, some did not want to mean harm and damage to everyone they encountered, even if the person was the very Captain of their opposition.

When Captain Torres leaves the barber shop, he briefly tells the Barber what he had heard if he went inside, of how it was thought that the Barber would have killed him.  Through this, I believe that it leaves the Barber with a good feeling, that he had stepped up and become the bigger man in the situation, showing a representative of the soldiers that the Revolutionaries were not terrible people, and they did not deserve what the soldiers were doing to them because when given the chance, on behalf of the rebels, the Barber did not act the same way as the Captain.

Captain Torres is changed by a new perspective on the rebels, perhaps even after this encounter he would have an enlightened attitude towards them.  He is gracious, but still stern.  The Barber is transformed by seeing how difficult it is to murder, and how although the thought crossed his mind, peace and professionality is more important than getting revenge.

"Brother Dear" by Bernice Friesen

The character that I have chosen to reflect on identity with from the short story, "Brother Dear" is Greg.  Greg's current situation is different in his perspective than his fathers, however within this story, Greg has shown to have grown into his own person apart from what his Father wants him to be doing.

The story takes place when Greg comes home from university, where in which his Dad had paid for his tuition, and had planned for Greg to study pre-law and to get good grades.  The pressure of of the Father makes Greg feel insignificant, because his father thinks he has "no drive, (and) no ambition". This only pushes Greg away more from caring about school, and the experience of university life itself has changed the perspective of Greg's life.

The perspective in which Greg now sees things is different than what his family values.  He changed physically, as he "grew his hair long," and "every time (I saw it), it was a different colour". This kind of concerns his family, but also his whole personality had changed as a whole. The protagonist, Sharlene, his sister states that "(He) started preaching to (them) about how materialistic (they) are", and Greg goes on to list things more things concerning to wasting money, and not being environmentally friendly. From the way that Sharlene recaps the conversation, it gives you and idea that Greg didn't really care about these things before, but in which now, he has a strong passion for.

Friesen creates Greg's identity through the things he is passionate about, and portrayed through his actions and words.  In addition to his conversation with his family mentioned earlier, another that creates a sense of who he is and what he cares about is the conversation at the dinner table.  When brought up by his Father, Greg mentions that he no longer eats meat because he's a vegetarian.  He lets his family know he did not do well on his exams, simply because he skipped to go to a protest. Greg also tells his family of how he isn't going back to school, and that he's going to spend his summer planting trees.  These three prime examples gives you a strong sense that Greg is an activist perhaps for animal rights, and also that he has grown to care a lot for the Earth's natural environment.  By skipping his exam, you can tell that Greg is really committed to these passions of his, they're not just a hobby, but they are so significant in his life that Greg really feels he needs to stand up for what he believes in.

Finally, during Greg's conversation with Sharlene before he boards the Grey Hound, Greg and Sharlene both realize something about themselves through their encounter.  Greg shows Sharlene that it doesn't matter what other people want for you if it doesn't make you happy.  Greg explained how he didn't want to follow along the path of just 'making Father happy', but instead, he wanted to do what he loved, and what he was passionate about.  The things that brought him joy were the things that made him his own person, not what he brought joy to other people.

Greg finally begins to accept his identity, and the way he is, because others do too.

How Greg's identity connects to myself is in the sense that he is willing to follow his the things he is passionate about. One thing that I really want to do after post-secondary is firstly, get a Bachelor's degree, then I want to go teach English abroad.  I also want to go on many humanitarian trips within my lifetime in third-world countries.  This connects to my values and Greg's as well, as I am a truly compassionate person and want to have the chance to make a difference in other people's lives. Greg is the same in that he has a passion for the environment, and certain rights, and these are things that he is willing to take action for, just as I am willing to as well.