Dark and Stormy

Lilly Pulitzer Dark and Stormy

Lilly Pulitzer has always been a favorite designer of mine since i was young, I love there bold, bright brights that are inspired by the beach, sand, sea and sun Lilly is the perfect island get away attire and is  adored in Bermuda. This past summer 2011 Lilly Pulitzer designed a print just for us, and of course it was inspired by our famous drink Dark and Stormy consisting of Bermuda Gosling Black Seal Rum and Ginger Beer its an island favorite.

The Bachelorette In Bermuda

Article: The Bachelorette Bermuda

My Comment: What a surprise such a small island and the ABC’s TV show The Bachelorette choose Bermuda as one of their romantic getaway destinations, could it get any better then that. This is huge for Bermuda as millions of people around the world watch the show; it is great advertisement for Bermuda’s tourism industry. I can’t wait to see how they portrayed Bermuda and the adventures they journeyed on during their stay at the Tuckers Point Hotel and Spa. Tuckers Point was the perfect place to host this event, located in the elite part of Bermuda the Hotel looks out over the entire Castle Harbor and South Shore.The hotel is actually directly across the Harbor from my house. The hotel is the only 5 star hotel in Bermuda and has been featured in magazines around the world.  Not only is that exciting but the most exciting part is who will receive a rose? Don’t miss it the Bachelorette will be airing May 14 on ABC channel.

Top 10 Beaches in Bermuda

Bermuda Pink Sand Beaches

Bermuda has some magnificent large and small beaches. Bermuda offers an array of exquisite beaches of pink sand and turquoise water. The Beach sand is not volcanic but from finely pulverized remains of calcium carbonate shells and skeletons of invertebrates such as corals, clams and other shells. The sand contains pink flecks that are the remains of a tiny organism known as red foam. This combined with tiny particles of broken shells and bits of coral create the pink hue of Bermuda’s beautiful beaches.

Bermuda White Roofs

The white Bermuda roof is one of Bermuda’s icons. Bermuda’s roofs have evolved over four centuries to do two things: protect houses against gale-force winds and funnel rain water  from the roofs down into large cisterns under houses that feed to all water sources in the house. Since Bermuda has no fresh water source on the island everyone must catch and store their own water. It is the most important and difficult part of the home to maintain. In Bermuda, all the houses have white roofs, by law, every house must collect 80 percent of the water that falls on its roof. . There is no (or very little) fresh water in Bermuda, so roofs are painted with lime based paint to prevent mildew and mold.

To build a traditional Bermudian roof, masons mortar rectangular slabs, or “slates,” of local limestone to each other over a hip-roof frame. Then they apply more mortar over the top and edges of the slates, filling the joints and giving the roof its traditional stepped shape. Along the lower edges of the roof, they sculpt a long concrete trough for a gutter, which directs rainwater to a pipe that filters it and funnels it into a cistern underneath the house. Then they give the whole roof structure a thin wash of cement. Finally, to keep rainwater as clean as possible on its way to the cistern, they paint the roofs with special nontoxic paint (a modern replacement for traditional lime wash), which must be reapplied every two to three years.

The result is a strong, nearly self-supporting structure that holds its own against the weather while sending clean water into the tank. It’s the best and cheapest way to supply fresh water — up to 30 gallons per person are needed per day — to the 60,000-plus residents of this tiny island nation. It’s also what accounts for Bermuda’s signature white rooftops, perfectly placed among the palms and pastel houses. 

Bermuda Architecture

Bermuda Architecture

Bermuda is like no other island in the world located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean Bermuda is vertical to South Carolina and still considered a tropical island. Bermuda is known for its unique architecture, traditionally built from Bermuda limestone the houses are white roofed and pastel-painted and are often regarded as a hallmark of the island, the style has even been described as the country’s only indigenous art form. The roofs are designed to catch water, of which there is no fresh supply in Bermuda apart from rain. The walls are designed to restrict damage from hurricanes and are required by law to be able to withstand wind speeds of over 100 mph. Houses are often given names.

Essay Topic

In my essay i am going to focus on writing about the theme and plot structure of “in the field” and “Field trip” in Tim O’briens  The things they carried. Reading in “in the Field” and “Field trip” expands the reader’s understanding of Kiowa’s death and the narrator’s reaction to the events that took place in the field. These chapters portray a feeling of guilt and sadness coming from the soldiers as they have lost a member of there team. Jimmy cross especially feels responsible for the death of Kiowa and takes all the blame and guilt on himself. The second chapter brings closure to the situation as O’Brien returns to Vietnam 20 years later with Kiowa’s moccasins and barry’s them in the river where Kiowa was pronounced dead.

Blog #18

If anyone, who is responsible for Kiowa’s death? Why? How does “the boy” fit into this idea of responsibility, and the story itself? Lieutenant jimmy cross feels he is responsible for the death of Kiowa, he blames himself for making the wrong decision, concluding that he should have followed his first impulse and removed the men from the field. He feels that his oversight caused Kiowa’s death.

Why does O’Brien return to the place of Kiowa’s death? Has anything changed – for the narrator, for the people in Vietnam, Vietnam itself? A few months after completing “in the field” O’Brian retuned to the place of Kiowa’s death where he looked for signs of forgiveness or personal grace or whatever else the land had to offer. The field was still there although not as O’Brian had remembered it. It was completely different now, everything seemed to be bone dry the place was at peace and things were quiet, Vietnam wasn’t what it had used to be. Farmers were now working near by the river farming, and there were birds and butterflies the soft rustlings of rural everywhere.

O’Brien mentions the deaths of several of the soldiers before he gives detailed accounts of how and when they died in later stories. “In the Field” and “Field Trip” expand the reader’s understanding of Kiowa’s death and the narrator’s reaction to the events that took place in the field. The stories are interrupted by a very short story, “Good Form,” in which O’Brien provides the reader with factual information about where he served and where most of the stories take place: The Quang Ngai Province. Why might that matter? Research materials about the province. (Pay attention to the timeframe: O’Brien served from late 1968–1970.)The Quang Ngai Province, located on the south central coast of Vietnam, was targeted early in the Vietnam War because U.S. military officials suspected it of being a Viet Cong stronghold. By the end of 1967, most of the homes in the province had been destroyed and many thousands of civilians were homeless.

How do the stories help in understanding the frustration and/or disillusionment of so many U.S. troops who fought in Vietnam? The personal stories in the book help in understanding their pain and frustration because it shows the war on a personal level, not such a broad level. Reading the book, it’s like you’re there with them in the field, getting shot at. Friends dying and the guilt of killing many people affects the soldiers in a negative way, and they sometimes feel helpless. This is how soldiers in every war feel.

What kind of multi-media, documents, and sources can you use to make your presentation a solid, coherent, in-depth, and challenging? Keep in mind that you have to use the book, no matter what. To make our presentation solid coherent and challenging, we use videos and word document handouts for a visual and vivid understanding. Students can follow along with our presentation, while doing an activity about the book at the same time. We also will use power to make our presentation more entertaining; we are also going to assign a writing exercise and a small quiz of questions to make our presentation a little more challenging.

How will you ensure that the audience participates attentively throughout? Do you want to assign a blog or homework (to be done in advance or after your session)? To ensure that the audience participates attentively throughout the presentation, I will hand out keynotes on the chapters so the students can follow along with. I will assign students with a work sheet of questions after the presentation to make sure they fully understood what was going on in the book. I will also assign a writing exercise the students will Choose one of the soldiers from  in the field the night Kiowa died and write a condolence letter from that character to Kiowa’s family. This will help put the student in the position of how a solider really felt in the war, of how much pain and sadness is to lose a friend and tell there family they have lost there son.

Blog #17 My expectations

My expectations for this student led discussion session are positive. If students read the material assigned to each group in “The Things They Carried” and have an understanding of what is going on in the reading the student led discussions should good well. My group consisting of Devin Jaz and I, is a great combination of students, we all work very well together as a team. i expect from my group that we will have a good understanding of the book and present well thought out material that is organized and presented on time. I most likely would expect the same from the others student groups, to follow the directions and read the material assigned to each group. I expect that Mr Parson will give clear and straight forward instructions on what to do exactly and share ideas and input on how to make our presentation better or what more to add to the presentation. 

Blog # 16

Stories are what we tell to remember past events in our lives or in others. They sometimes have meaning, tell a tale, or have a purpose for being told. Stories are sometimes sad, scary and frightening, just like the ones told in The Things they carried. This book takes us back to the war in Vietnam when soldiers were sacrificing their lives to save the lives of others. This past Wednesday we listened to two war veterans from the Vietnam War who kindly shared their stories with us on their own experiences in the war. The whole session was touching and emotional, to hear their stories and imagine my self in their position I don’t know how I would have survived. The millions of friends and soldiers who they witnessed die every day was unimaginable. Everyday of the war was an uncertainty if they would make it out alive or home safe. The countdown to how many days they had left in war felt like an eternity to them, the fact of not knowing your future or the next hour of your life is one of the scariest thoughts to me. The soldiers who have fought or who are fighting in the war today deserve so much more credit for their bravery and life risking actions in the war today and the past. Although I might not be American I live in this country and am so thankful to be safe living here today. I cant thank every solider enough for the loyalty and dedication they have for this county America.