The First Thanksgiving

Gracie Swanson
American Studies
December 6, 2007






The Pilgrim’s were involved in many religious conflicts in the early 1600’s. They were known as Separatists and formed their own independent Church. They believed that they could only achieve pure honest religion by separating from the Church of England. In 1606 they began meeting in Scrooby, a small town in Nottinghamshire England. Starting their own independent church put them in danger in England. The Church of England was the country’s official religion. The church and country of England were both led by King James I of England. Breaking away from the Church of England would be like breaking away from England itself. People believed the Separatists were traitors against the king and country. King James I kept a close eye on the Separatists. Government officials were sent to spy on the Separatists’ meetings. Pretty soon the Separatists feared that they might be jailed or killed. They decided to move to Holland for more religious freedom. Like all immigrants, the Separatists struggled to adapt to new customs. The only jobs available to the immigrants paid poorly and were very hard labor. Twelve years later the colony decided to move to North America.

To pay for the ocean voyage to North America the Separatists turned to a group of merchants. The merchants agreed to pay for the voyage and in turn the Separatists agreed to set up and make the colony successful. After seven years, the merchants and colonists would divide the profits and property. The Separatists and merchants recruited more people to travel to North America to increase the size of the colony and to make it more successful. On July 21, 1620 they left for Southampton England, and from there they would leave for North America. After traveling to England in a ship, called the Speedwell, they set sail for North America on a ship called the Mayflower. The Mayflower was 113 feet long and 25 feet wide. The ship was very uncomfortable because 102 passengers and 30 crew members squeezed tightly on the ship for the journey. The journey lasted 66 days. Many people were seasick and all were miserable. Life on the ship was difficult. Food spoiled easily and water would develop a layer of scum on the top after a few weeks. Finally after more than two months they reached their destination. North America! The Separatists had wanted to start their colony as far away as possible from the other English people in North America. They had intended to settle the area around the mouth of the Hudson River, which was then Virginia. They found themselves at Cape Cod, which was 200 miles north of their intended destination. The colonists were too exhausted to continue, so they decided to stay there.

A group of colonists, led by Michael Standish, searched the coast to find a suitable place to build a colony. After exploring for a month they discovered someone else had already cleared the land, making it easier for them. They found Native American articles, but didn’t find any Native Americans around the area. What the colonists didn’t know was that they were building on was the exact site of the Wampanoag tribe’s summer village. The village was called Pawtuxet. The Wampanoag had farmed and fished in Pawtuxet forever. They lived in bark covered wigwams called wetus with their families. Each family farmed their own plot land planting corn, beans, squash, and watermelon. They spent their summers on the ocean shores farming and gathering cod, herring, mussels, and clams. In the late autumn and early winter they led community hunts. Then they moved inland for the rest of the winter. Life was disrupted by Europeans in the early 1600’s. Fishermen, traders, and explorers came from England, Holland, and France sailed up and down the coast of New England making contact with the Wampanoag. The first encounters weren’t always friendly. Traders captured native people and took them to the Caribbean Sea and sold them into slavery.

One of the Wampanoag captured was Squanto. Squanto lived with a group of Spanish Friars. Sailors were very interested in his knowledge of North America and the natives who lived there. Before long he was sailing back to the village of Pawtuxet in 1619. It should have been a joyous homecoming except for his people had vanished. In 1618 disease had spread over Wampanoag country and the Pawtuxet people were wiped out. The epidemic of 1618 left fields deserted for Plymouth colonists. It was also the epidemic that left the Wampanoag no choice, but to seek peace with the colonists. Squanto first met the colonists when Samoset, leader of Abenaki people, brought him to translate and speak to the English people. Squanto told them that the sachem or chief of the Abenaki people wanted to meet with them. Later they did meet and made a peace agreement that they would both come to each other’s aid. After a hard winter, Squanto gave the colonists advice on how to plant crops, hunt and fish. The pilgrims began to feel stronger. By the summer the colonists had created two storage houses for food and supplies. Because of the peace treaty, the Pilgrims felt safe when hunting so they were able to acquire a lot of game. Squanto taught the colonists to enrich the soil by burying fish. They heeded Squanto’s advice and they had plentiful crops. Squanto also taught them about corn and how to dry some for winter and make some into corn meal.

After a year of hardship the people of Plymouth found reason to celebrate. It was the autumn of 1621 and they were gathering crops they had planted in the spring of that year. They hadn’t believed their settlement would last very long. About half of the 102 colonists had been wiped out. The harvest of 1621 gave them hope because they had very bountiful crops. The Wampanoag farming had helped them produce lots of food. With the first harvest in and having survived a year in their new home, the colonists began to plan a celebration. The celebration went on in autumn of 1621. There were three days of dancing, games, and large meals. The celebration was not called Thanksgiving, but was merely a celebration. The Wampanoag heard the shooting of the hunting party and went to investigate. When they heard the colonists were having a celebration they joined in. Massasoit sent hunters who killed five deer for the feast. For three days fifty colonists and ninety Wampanoag entertained and feasted. There is no evidence that turkey was served. They may have eaten other birds, cod, shellfish, rabbit, squash, beans, and other delicacies. There was no cranberry sauce because there was no sugar to make the sauce. The meal was held outside and required a lot of work. Corn had to be ground, birds had to be plucked of their feathers, meat roasted, and shellfish gathered. All the colonists pitched in to work for this celebration of their colony successfulness.
It is popular belief that Thanksgiving was a time where the colonists gave thanks to the Native American tribes who had helped them survive and prosper in the new land. It seems that the Native Americans could be considered more ‘party crashers’ than invited guests. When the Native Americans heard the celebratory shots of the colonists and went to investigate, I am sure the Colonists thought it more prudent to include them in their celebration rather than ask them to leave. One hopes that the early colonists truly realized how important the tribe had been to their survival rather that just being afraid of them.

the hole story continued

Chapter 2

After what seemed like two minutes I hit a soft patch of sand below. I rubbed my back as I stood up. Where was I? I had fallen down so far I hadn't kept track of how far I had fallen. When I looked up I saw a distant crack of light about two miles above my head. Claustrophobia started to overwhelm me. I was so far down and couldn't get back up to the top. I tried grabbing onto the wall and pulling my self up, but I would just slip back down with no process. After twenty tries I wiped my head of sweat. I pounded the wall frustatedly. To my dismay the hole started to close leaving me in total darkness. I cried into my hands and lay down on the sand.

My hopes rose when I could hear a whimpering. I felt around the hole, but there was no Skamp. He must have found a way out! I thought feeling around the walls of the hole. When my hand came to a small tunnel I was as triumphant as can be.

I could barely fit squish my caterpillar shaped body through the tunnel. I struggled for breath, for every time I would breathe in, sand would get in my mouth. Amazingly I began to see a light. I crawled as fast as a worm trying to escape a bird through the tunnel until I finally climbed out into an amazing world!

a continuation to to the story about the girl on the beach

"What is it Skamp?" I asked following him to the slope. There lay a hole two feet deep and four feet wide. "Oh Skamp!!! You brought me all the way over here to show me the hole that you dug." As I turned to go I noticed the hole was getting way bigger.

Now the hole streched seven feet wide and seemed to go on forever. Skamp walked towards the hole. "Skamp noooooo!!!" I started running towards the hole. Skamp jumped down into the hole. "Skamp come here boy," I frantically cried adding a bunch of whistles. I looked around for someone to help me, but the beach was deserted.

I couldn't leave Skamp by himself. He was my best friend as far as dogs go. If I jumped in the hole I would be risking my life. On the other hand no one would miss me. My mother and father already had seven other kids to deal with. I didn't have any friends so why not go for it. I walked towards the edge of the hole. I took three big breaths and jumped into the dark depths below.

My European Explorer Claymation Reflection

Clay, glue, toothpicks, and shells are just some of the materials we used to make our European Explorer Claymation for Mr. Bergquist’s 8th Grade American Studies Class. This project stretched over two months, and was quite a challenging journey. We chose Francisco Pizarro four our European explorer because we thought he had an interesting name. Through this project we learned how to research, summarize, plan, improvise, create, recreate and most of all have exciting!
The most enjoyable part of this project was actually creating the claymation. We really had to work together to come up with how we were going to show Pizarro’s life. It was really pleasurable taking the pictures and then being able to view them as a moving picture. I really took pleasure in being able to work with Raelani on this project. It seemed like a very difficult project at first and it felt like a real accomplishment to finish the project and actually have it turn out pretty well!!
The hardest part of this project was getting each scene in on time. This was difficult because each scene took about twenty minutes to shoot. You then had to upload the photos onto the computers which also took another twenty minutes. Uploading to your iMovie took about another five minutes. This meant that from photo to movie took a minimum of forty five minutes. Mr. Bergquist is a very busy man. He has to check a lot of projects throughout the class period. We waited patiently for our turn for out project to be checked.

An important thing that I learned from this project is that slow and steady really does win the race. When you are shooting each scene, you need to be careful to move the clay figures only a little at a time. You also want to make sure that you take a lot of photos so that when you create your movie it flows better and the movement looks smoother. If you move the figures quickly and don’t take a lot of photos, your scene will end up choppy. If you do not take your time in taking the photos and moving the figures you may end having to shoot the scene again. It pays to take your time in the first place; it really pays off in the end.

In conclusion, I really have gained an appreciation for claymation and the work that goes into it. When I think about movies like Wallace and Grommet or Chicken Run I have some understanding of how much work and creativity was needed to create these movies. I also was able to learn about Francisco Pizarro in depth. It was interesting to learn about the explorer’s early life and what may have leaded him to want to explore in the first place. I also thought it was beneficial watching everyone else’s creative process as they completed this project.

Francisco Pizarro Claymation

Hey I'm writing a new story about a girl and a diary!

September 1

Dear Diary,
Hi my name is Sarah. I am thirteen years old and I guess you could say I'm an average eighth grader. I have brown, short hair and wide clonking feet. I am right handed adore peanut butter sandwiches. I know I'm no one special in the world.

My mother doesn't agree with me. She says I'm special, but who would agree with someone who thinks slugs are special too. That's right my mother studies slugology at the local University of Brooks. She wears green overalls and carries a little Tupperware case around in case she finds any "rare" specimen that she could study in the lab.

I look exactly like my mother with my mousy brown hair and googly green eyes. My oldest sixteen year old sister, Bridgette on the other hand is a teen supermodel. With her brunette head on on long five foot seven body she walks around the school like she owns the place. Which in reality is true. I mean she is like thee queen bee. She's good at everything: school, fashion, boys. You name it she's good at it. I feel like such a goofball standing next to her. She always tries to give offer me advice. I try to follow it and even do it myself, but I always end up looking like a total loser. She tried plucking my eyebrows once, but had to stop because I "accidentally" kicked her in the head. I mean it hurt so much I couldn't help myself.

My sister Bridgette and me get along pretty well. My second oldest fourteen year old sister and my relationship is a different story. If you were to imagine Brianne and my relationship then you would have to imagine a full fledged war because we fight so much. I seem to do everything wrong. Like for instance, today she said that I hogged the bathroom too long. I mean she's in there for at least an hour every morning and I only ask for ten minutes to brush my hair, put a little deodorant on, and brush my teeth. It's not that much to ask for! Brianne, like Bridgette, is the total opposite of me. She has natural bleached blond hair and bright blue eyes. She's as skinny as a pole and has pearly while never braced teeth.

Have to go. I'm almost late to watch my favorite show, CSI!!!!! Write more later.

Rear Window Essay

Alfred Hitchcock was probably one of the greatest movie directors of all time. He was known for his technical and artistic genius and was clearly ahead of his time. Rear Window, one of his most notable movies, is an intriguing story about how a man who is stuck in his apartment observes what he believes to be a murder. From his observations through his ‘rear window’ of his apartment he proceeds to solve the murder. Alfred Hitchcock uses many different techniques in his setting, characters and story line that keep us in suspense.

Hitchcock uses the story line to keep us guessing about what is taking place in the story. Many unusual events take place during the beginning of the film. This keeps you wondering what the events mean as well as what’s going to happen next. For example, early in the movie a business man goes out three times in the middle of the night. He wears a long jacket, a hat, and carries a suitcase. This makes me wonder what he’s doing. Then we discover that his wife is missing which leads us to wonder if his strange activities the night before have something to do with her disappearance. Another example of this is that in the film there is a cute innocent little dog. The owners let him out in the day and bring him inside in the night. One night his owners find that someone has broken his neck and killed him. Before this event happened, the dog was observed digging the in the tulip patch. This episode makes you wonder who killed the dog and why. He also presented many different types of characters that may have had their own reasons to kill the victim, it kept you guessing.


The setting that Hitchcock uses also creates suspense in the story line. The music especially adds to the suspense of each scene. When the character Lisa is sneaking into the suspect’s apartment the music is very scary and suspenseful. He also uses the darkness and shadows a lot and much of the action takes place at night. The character Mr. Jeffries has to hide in the shadows so that the suspect does not see him spying on him. In one scene his girlfriend is sending him a signal and the suspect sees her do this. The suspect then knows he is being watched from Mr. Jeffries apartment. You then wonder if the suspect will come over to retaliate. He also used the weather to create suspense. In the most suspenseful parts of the movie there is thunder and rain.


Hitchcock also used interesting camera angles and inferences during the movie as well. For example, when the suspect is trying to strangle Mr. Jeffries we see Mr. Jeffries from the same angle as the person strangling him. It makes you feel as though you were the one strangling him. Mr. Jeffries is confined to his apartment with a broken leg, so he is watching out his window all day. We start to see the scenarios unfold through his eyes. We cannot hear what his neighbors are saying, but are left to infer what is going on. When we see the suspect and the victim having a heated discussion we infer they are fighting. Miss Lonelyheart takes a number of pills out and puts them on her dresser, we are led to infer that she is going to commit suicide. When we see the small dog digging in a spot in the suspects garden and then later the dog turns up dead we infer that there is something there under the soil that the suspect does not want dug up. In another scene the suspect is wrapping a saw in newspaper and we are led to infer that he is trying to get rid of or hid it.


It was fun to watch Rear Window and look for ways that Hitchcock used his skills to create suspense. Many of the movies today are much more graphic and instead of implying that something has happened it is shown right on the screen. Sometimes not much is left to the imagination. I think that it is much harder to create suspense the way Hitchcock did. Rear Window is a movie that is timeless and will be enjoyed by audiences now and into the future because of the genius of Hitchcock.

I don't have a title yet! :(

Hey this is a story I made up. I hope you like it!!!!



Chapter 1


The sea air blew on me, calming my mind and thoughts. My dog Skamp ran a little ahead of me as I walked on the hard wet ground. "Why was everyone so mean to me?" I thought flicking a grain of sand off my hand. I pulled on my short red bangs trying to pull them over my eyes. I knew I was sort of an outcast with my non designer gray sweatpants and my huge torn up multicolored sweater.

The wind blew a little more urging me forward. Some of the wind got into my mouth and tasted like a fresh batch of frenchfries. My dog was happily playing in sea water splashing and chasing the fish. The clouds split a little apart casting a white light on the water.

My dog stopped splashing and ran out of the water as fast as his legs could carry him. "Must have seen a shark," I said aloud jokingly. I looked towards my feet and saw a beautiful white seashell, that looked as if it had been bleached from the seawater. I pulled the shell up to my ear and heard the sounds of the sea. Carefully I stuffed the delicate shell in my pocket and continued on my way.

My dog ran up to me wagging his tail. He put his paw on my knee and turned his head towards the bank as to coax me to follow him.


To be continued....

Hey

Hey!!!
I am going to be writing some of my writing on this blog. Hope you enjoy!!!!!!!!