Having an exciting week! Holiday time is always fun. I adopted a Dog on Tuesday too! He's been keeping me busy! I've been reading 1984 and enjoying seeing how people respond to it in the discussions. I thought the discussions questions this week were great and I'm happy with the quotes I found to respond with. I'm now just waiting to see some more questions from classmates. I registered for all my Spring classes this week. I'll be taking English Comp I and II, Intro to Nutrition, and Macroeconomics.

I'm excited to be reading 1984 again. I read it the first time about 3 years ago. This time I was more disturbed by what he does for a job. Reviewing old records and files and changing them to show the government as always being correct. The Nazis did this too. Often records of Jews where destroyed. They even went so far as to destroy the records of famous first world war fighter pilots simply because of their religion. It worries me that something like that could happen today. Also the fact that Oceania is in a constant state of war and has been for many decades. This is similar to America. Maybe not the same war but we have been fighting wars every decade since World War II. I'm finding it much easier to connect the book with modern events then I did the first time around. I also posted in the discussions about how people today have a personal two minutes hate. This comes from tailored Facebook and twitter feeds that reinforce their beliefs.

Reading the Allegory was great. It really relates well to the issues we are currently facing in this country. I enjoyed reading the discussions from other students this week and was glad people had positive and nice responses to my controversial topic. I spent a little time reading other peoples interpretations online and soon found it easy to interpret it myself. Besides this class I have been enjoying my other class, Computer Applications and started building a database, which I find surprisingly fun.

I really enjoyed reading this weeks passages. My mother protested during the civil rights movement and she enjoyed reading the passage Return to Haynville. While she did not experience anything like this, she knew they happened and continued her activist drive. What disturbed me most was the acts of the Jackson police. Beating people and then holding them in a barn. Also the fact the FBI knew this was going on and went along with it, as it was all staged. As an American I know the FBI is at the mercy of the current administration. Recent events in modern times prove this.

This week I read the story about Adam in Dimensions Reader. It was called Thank you for your Service. It was a sad and tragic story about how badly treated our veterans are. I even had my dad read it, as he and I have similar thinking. Talking with him about it helped me get some good ideas and thoughts for the discussions this week. Besides the reading we are working in groups to write a one page paper about a recent incident that occurred at Middlebury College. I have had a few good exchanges with one of my group members so far so we'll see how it all comes out.

Hello, my name is Brendan and this is a blog I am creating for a college course called, Dimensions of Self and Society. This is my third semester at Community College of Vermont. How I got here is a bit of a story. After high school I feared continuing my education. I hated high school and just wanted to be done with. I spent a few years doing absolutely nothing. In the fall of 2015 I had a panic attack that resulted in me going to the ER believing it to be a heart attack. This is when I learned I had severe anxiety and depression. I spent the following month visiting my doctor and trying various medications while also seeing a therapist. I got a lot better and attempted to go to college at Johnson State. On moving in day I arrived. Nothing felt right, my anxiety was the worst it had been in a long time. I stuck with it though and went through the motions. However I soon realized it would not work. I went home that same day. I enrolled in CCV online courses soon after however and have been with it for over a year now! That is some background on me.