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Embody America in six words? Impossible.

Who Is Andrew Thompson Nagelberg?

If there is one question that teenager’s hate it is, who do you want to be? It is a loaded question filled with so many variables that it is almost unfair. How, at eighteen years old, am I supposed to know what I want to be for the rest of my life. Not only what occupation I want but who I want to be as a person. I do not know the answer to this question but I do know a few things for sure.

1. I am excited for the challenges I have laid in front of me. I am looking forward to testing who I am as a person through challenges. Things such as college and travel will test my skills and knowledge and help me learn about myself. Stepping out of my comfort zone will help me grow as a person.

2. Though it is cliché, I greatly value honesty. Honesty with myself and others leads to better communication and understanding. To me these things are essential for any kind of relationship.

Though I do not have a concrete ideology I know the general path I want to take. Experiences that I will have in the near future will help make my ideology. I look forward to finding out who Andrew Thompson Nagelberg really is.

Similarities/Differences

These two instances are similar. Can they be compared exactly? No.

Similarities:
One group (Che, USA) is helping another group (Revolutionary guerrillas, Pakistanis) rid their country of a different group (Cuban government, Al Qaeda/Taliban)

Differences:
Che was getting rid of the government in power.
The USA is helping quell sectarian violence and small group nuisances while helping to keep the government in place.

Andele! Andele!, Arriba! Arriba!

Page 1. “This is not a story of heroic feats, or merely the narrative of a cynic’ at least I do not mean it to be. It is a glimpse of two lives running parallel for a time, with similar hopes and convergent dreams.” Ernesto’s voice in this excerpt shows an intelligent man. This sets up the book for an educated voice.

Page 40. “My tired eyes refused to sleep and in them a pair of green spots swirled, representing the world I had left for dead behind me and mocking the so-called liberation I sought. They harnessed their image to my extraordinary flight across the lands and seas of the world.” Ernesto writes in an airy, abstract, and metaphoric style. He is artistic in his writing and uses metaphors in place of concrete, tangible examples from time to time.

Conspiracy

The Central Intelligence Agency is responsible for the death of Che Guevara. That’s right, I said it. Uncle Sam is a killer. All the pieces fit to blame the United States. The USA is anti-communist while Che is pro-communist. Che is making a big fuss all over Latin America and could potentially make trouble for the United States. This man is leading successful revolutions for proponents of communism. How do you get rid of this problem? Kill Che. That is exactly what the C.I.A. did.

Lonely Adventure? I think not.

It has been told that a wise man once said, “There is nothing lonelier than adventure.”
That wise man is full of bologna.

Adventure shows one the world.
Adventure opens ones mind.
Adventures teach one about oneself.
Adventures fill one with experience.

Without adventure how would one know them self?
Nothing can make one less lonely than adventure.

Let Dreams Be Dreams

Che wanted a completely socialist country. He wanted all people to pitch in equally including government officials. Che led by example when, in the movie, he decided to roll up his sleeves and go to work in the factories and fields. Che expressed his radical views in a speech he gave in France. Here he practically said goods should be traded between communist nations for free because trading for a profit is like imperialism or capitalism. Che had big dreams but they were not realistic. Even though his friend, Castro, agreed on many aspects he knew Che’s dreams were not a reality.

Double Jeopardy: The Alex Trebek story.

All my life I have enjoyed random facts. For instance; Why are they called strawberries? Why are there ridges on the edge of coins? What is the reason for giving an apple to a teacher? Etc. I have the answers to all of these questions and many more. A man who is filled with useless information, like me, is Alex Trebek. As the host of Jeopardy, Alex has learned many random facts throughout the years. This is why Trebek greatly interests me because random facts have helped me learn and grow as a person so I can only imagine what they have done to him.

The Honest Truth

Up until this point we have been given mixed messages about who Che really is. Is he a bloodthirsty murdering communist or a loving and caring father? I wish someone could be honest and just tell the truth. If I were to make a documentary I would title it, “Man or Beast? Who is the true Che?” My documentary would focus on getting to the bottom of who Che Guevara really was. I would weigh the good and bad aspects and make a final decision as to whether this was a man to be lauded or ridiculed.

EURO TRIP!

I have begun the planning stages of a trip of a lifetime. I, and two of my best friends, will be traveling to Europe after we finish our first year of college. We plan on traveling all across Europe and seeing as much as possible in two or three weeks. We plan on visiting a few main places (Paris, Madrid, Rome, etc) but we will also play it by ear. We are going to purchase a eurrail pass so we can travel across Europe by rail and visit as many places as we please. We plan visiting historically rich places and learning a lot about the world while we are at it. This will no doubt be a trip of a lifetime and I cannot wait to go!

CHE CHE CHE

I am very judgmental when I first look at a book. The first thing I look at is the length of the book. If it is a book for school and it is long I instantly dread it. If it is a book I am reading on my own length is not as important.

I recently began reading Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner as part of aa book club. The cover is very eye catching. It has an image that accurately represents the theme of the book. It is a picture of an apple with a slice cut out. Instead of what you would expect on the inside, an apple, it is an orange. This is to show that sometimes things are not what they seem on the outside. The book delves deeper into events to see why they happen, and the answer is usually not what is expected. Just like the image of the apple.

Tricked?

The fact that the media and Hollywood would take a not so honorable guy and use him to make a buck is not surprising. Things like this have happened before. I recognize Che’s picture anywhere but I did not know what it was until now. This kind of makes me feel betrayed or tricked. At the same time I have some doubts about what beck is saying. Yes I believe this guy, Che, was bad but is Beck blowing it out of proportion? I think people should be informed about what Che had done but I do not think major change will happen.

I do not like Beck’s delivery. Yes he is very animated and the inflection in his voice make it seem like he is very passionate about the subject he is talking about but I think he is fake. His delivery is a little too much. He is trying to hard and it makes him seem disingenuous.