Spirit, Matriculated.

Religion seems to carry an extremely heavy burden these days. The subtle mind control factor of it all, has seem to turn off so many people who are even fairly logical. Much of this backlash to religion though, in my experience, for the most part seem to come from Atheist who argue against Christianity. Though this opinion may be biased, it is based on the fact that I myself was raised to be Christian. To give a brief biography on my religious upbringing, I have been to multiple churches of extremely different denominations. I have witnessed many, what would seem to be, insane rituals and beliefs; from speaking in tongues, to spiritual heeling's of physical problems, to infiltration of evil spirits, to ghost, to exorcisms, to prophecy visions, to free association prayer, to spiritual connections within the specific group of people I am with at a single moment. I have partaken in many of these religious and spiritual practices. And every single time, I have sincerely believed in  these activities to be a real "God experience". I was a Christian, not of any denomination, but a Christian none the less. My Christian God and answered prayers were my pastor. And though, I did not start to really read the Bible until a few years ago, I had gained most of my knowledge on what the text of the Bible through sermons, and a few select times when I picked up the book and read through some of the verses. In fact, I had read the entire english translation of the Quoran, before I had even started to begin to read the Bible in its entirety. The first full book of the Bible I read was "Revelations".  I do not claim, nor have I ever claimed, to have full knowledge on what the Bible has printed in it, let alone every translation of its text. This forced me to use my own logic to understand different ways the scriptures could be interpreted. Luckily enough, I had talked to many people about religion to know at least some of the ways The Bible is interpreted. At the same time, when I look at the amount of Biblical Scholars who argue on interpretations of the Bible, I begin to realize what I consider to be a very important truth when it comes to any religion. There is never going to be a single, clear, unanimous interpretation on what any religious text says and the way to become and live a spiritual life. Leaving people the individual right to find and have their own spiritual beliefs and connections. This conclusion came to me many years ago, and has since given me the basis of what my religious beliefs are from that time on. The basis of my spiritual belief is a factor I call, "I have absolutely no fucking clue".

Plogging Postings

So obviously, I have been posting what seems to be a lot of school work. In fact, I have been. Currently I'm sitting here in American History class, and I was just browsing my blog here. Don't think I'm not doing any work, I'm more so occasionally writing a word or two here and there. And apart from this, I'm recording the lecture on my laptop so that I can review this class over and over again.

So the point at hand is, this is my last history class before the final exam. Meaning I wont post any more of those boring post about some point in History, and possibly no more English shit either. I guess I could say anyone is welcome to look into what I wrote for those classes, and that I have no reason to take those post down seeing that they really should have no reason to offend in anyway. And even if they do, why is that my problem? I'm simply writing my mind here. You are more than allowed to take it in anyway you wish.

And this brings us to the question at hand. I will soon have massive amounts of time to write about anything I want to post on here. So, what should I blog about? What am I going to blog about? Well I have many ideas, I am planning on blogging about my spiritual beliefs. This is not to reason with or convince anyone of them except myself. So if you are interested in seeing this struggle please let me know. I do plan on editing the short stories I posted earlier, along with writing some more short stories. Later this year, I will also plan on posting more of my schoolwork. I have found that posting my work has helped me in my classes, and I don't see how anyone wouldn't benefit from it.

In closing, I would like to thank everyone who has looked at my blog thus far, and I hope that you will continue to enjoy everything that is posted on here in days to come. Please let your friends know about this blog if you think that they will enjoy the work here as well. I hope to be able to communicate a mind to the world, and it will take more than me and my friends alone. I am sorry to inform people, I am not friends with everyone in the world. I am sorry.

Until I post/blog (plog) again, my name is Blu Lorn.

Early Colonial Settlement of Pennsylvania from 1660 to 1776

In 1660, Charles II became the king of England. At this time the Dutch were leaders in world trade. Because of this, England did all that it could in its power to gain control of world trade and commerce. Of course, this plan took 100 years to accomplish. This led the royal throne trying to take more of a strong hold on the American Colonies. One notable way of taking this action, was to establish what has been known as the Restoration Colonies. These were also monetary and political debts to eight loyal noblemen. These Colonies included the Carolinas, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Most of the proprietors of these new lands were allowed to rule the new land in any way they pleased. Most laws were set up similar to England's. However, the largest problem that the crown and colonies dealt with, was that of religion. One radical religious group, the Quakers, struggled for equality between the sexes as well as a pacifist view on disputes. Though many Quakers living throughout the colonies, would seem not to bother anyone, they made aggressive statements with passive actions, and led to many of the colonist dealing with problems between the Quakers and other religious groups.

In 1681, Charles II granted ownership of Pennsylvania to William Penn. This was in order to pay back a debt to Penn's father, Admiral Sir William Penn. Though Penn himself was born into a wealthy family, during his years at college, Penn became obsessed with the Quaker religion because of the plainness. Once given the settlement of Pennsylvania, which means Penn's Woods, William Penn set up the providence as a refuge for Quakers in England and the Colonies alike. Though Penn himself did not arrive in the colony until 1682, when he laid out the plans for the city of Philadelphia, Penn had made his cousin William Markham deputy governor of the province and sent him to take control in 1861. This pan of government, was due to the fact that in England, Quakers were persecuted for refusing to serve in military services or pay taxes which supported the Church of England. Even William Penn spent two years in jail due to his beliefs as a Quaker. Quakers wanted to restore Christianity to early simple spirituality, but did not agree with the Calvinistic documents that were considered too pessimistic. The two English leaders for the Quakers were, George Fox and Margaret Fell. These people argued that God has given both men and women an, "inner light" of grace and understanding. With this sex equality came 350 women who became Quaker ministers. This is along with the were 1,500 migrants who settled in Pennsylvania. Obviously Penn's religious beliefs dictated the government structure that was set up for Pennsylvania. Penn set up a state that would be tolerant of all religions, given that they were of Christian relation. Though Penn set up a legally established church, this gave political equality to all property-owning men. This was to allow all property-owning men the power to vote and hold office. Because of this decision, thousands of the Quakers, who were mostly yeomen families from the northwest midland region of England, were jubilant about this and flooded Pennsylvania, and originally settled along the Delaware River near Philadelphia.

William Penn was one of the most preferred rulers of any Colony. The king of England, more as a piece of pleasantry than otherwise, insisted upon naming the land that was being settled "Pennsylvania," in honor of the proprietor. Even later in the nations history, there were accounts of slaves who stated, "I hope that I become the slave of a Quaker." Though slavery was not outlawed, Quakers tended to treat their slaves much better than in owners in any other state. Absolute freedom of conscience was permitted. In all trials by jury of Native Americans, one-half of the jury were composed of Native Americans, and, although Penn allowed the death sentence for treason and murder, nobody was ever killed as execution while Penn was still in power. Penn in a way, gave the rest of the settlers a living example on how to act in manner of political matters, as well as treatment of Native Americans. Penn for the most part treated the Native Americans of the region, The Lenape  (later named Delaware), with a lot more respect than most Colonies at the time. After his arrival in 1682 he called the Native American chiefs together at Shackamaxon, and paid them for the land that he had already received. In addition, he  signed a treaty with the Native Americans, which was not broken for sixty years. It has been said that, this was the only treaty not sworn to, which was kept by English settelers.

Within a year of settlement, Quakers had began to started to use mix crop for economic growth and food produce. It had become one of the leaders in the world of farming and produce. Many of the crops that were harvested consisted of corn, wheat, oats, rye, hemp and tomatoes. On a separate note, tomatoes were not used in pizzas until around this time, when the queen of Italy had taken a liking to the taste. Imagine pizza without tomatoes. In 1683 Penn had met with others in Chester, to finally set out the plans in order to set up the city of Philadelphia. A year later, there was a population of 7,000 residents. In three years, the population grew faster than that of New Yorks in fifty years. Delaware, then called the "Three Lower Counties," was given a separate government in 1703. Delaware created their own deputy governor. But Pennsylvania and Delaware continued substantially under one government until the American Revolution. In 1692, the province was taken from Penn, because of his friendship to James II. And even after it was restored by Penn, in 1699 when he made his second visit he found the people had grown away from him and were against Penn exercising his former supervision. While absent, a steward stole all his property in England. Failing in health and mind, Penn died in 1718. His sons then became proprietors. However, the residents grew more discontented with the payments to the state. To end the disputes, the State abolished the rents during the Revolution, paying the proprietors the sum of $650,000 for the removal of their rights.


Pennsylvania had developed into a dynamic and growing colony, enriched by immigration of Germans and English. The Quakers, English, and Welsh settled mostly in Philadelphia and the eastern counties. Through foreign trade they gained commercial and financial power and reached a political dominance, which was held until the American Revolution. Philadelphia had become the largest city in the nation, and was third largest in the world next to London, and Paris. Philadelphia had also become known as a center of culture in the new world. The Germans, which became known as the Pennsylvania Dutch due to their pronunciation of the word Deutsch, (meaning German) largely of the religions of Mennonites, Moravians, Lutherans, and Amish settled in the farming areas of Southeast Pennsylvania as well as around Lancaster. While working the Germans kept their traditions and rituals and to  a considerable extent their language, customs, architecture, and superstitions. Due to this large influx of German immigrants to the colony, there has been a section of the area called Germantown.

By 1776, Pennsylvania had become the third largest English colony in America, Philadelphia had become the second largest city in the America and was second largest next to London. Though there were only three counties initially, by 1773 there were eleven. West Moreland, the last new county created before the Revolution, was the first county located entirely west of the Allegheny Mountains. This expansion led to many fights with the Native Americans. This expansion also led to the first road, now called Route 30, which went from Lancaster to Philadelphia. The prominent resident Benjamin Franklin also made many of his inventions while living in Philadelphia. Some of these inventions were a postal service, a printing press along with the first newspaper, the Franklin Stove and the Glass Harmonica. On the eve of the American Revolution Philadelphia held the largest amounts of breweries, artisans and mechanics formed grassroots leadership, and Philadelphia as a city was a center of resistance to the Stamp Act in 1765. Many of the people opposed moved to support Boston in opposition to the Intolerable Acts in 1774.


Altogether, Pennsylvania was a fairly diverse Colony. With a stronghold for agriculture, political, artistic and trade, Pennsylvania became a very prominent position for the second constitutional congress as well as gave plenty of reason for Pennsylvania's nickname, The Keystone State. Though there were still slaves and disputes between the Native Americans and English settlers, Pennsylvania has come to be known as the most Democratic of all the Colonies.

Globalization Break Down

The United States of America's economics have based in capitolism for over 100 years. US foreign policy has become an outlet for the expansion of capitalism at extreme rates for over the past fifty years. One of the main forces behind this is probably due to World War II. Along with one of the key ideologies that comes from the American idea of Manifest destiny being related to the global village. Much of this type of expansion has been easier to accomplish through the internet.

After the end of World War II, the world was split between Communistic, and Democratic states. This created a very large division between people. One of the most obvious divisions being the Berlin Wall. America had entered in to the United Nations, along with many other countries, in order to keep peace in the world, and to produce trade. The biggest part of creating international trade was to have a free market. One which would not be regulated by restricting business of certain practices that would be considered to be anti-progressive. Though this idea was good in nature, there are always pros and cons to everything. Many countries such as the U.S.S.R. did not agree with this type of trade practice. But the push for a global economy was much stronger than any one nation. The push for this economy was made in hope for many, to have a better standard of life. Much of this meant to the majority of American corporations, that they would be able to utilize any part of the world in order to generate profits.

Once again, though this is good in idealology, globalization is beging to show in practice, a failing effort. The busness created for an American company in Idia, has caused many what would be American jobs to be outsourced, leading the companies to pay less in hourly wages. Many times, such as in the video, an American corporation will have part of their company in another part of the world, but will use immagrants from other parts of the world such as Asains for the work needed. This is in an effort to have the cheapest labor, in many cases creating a psuedo slavery system.

Another aspect is the shift to a twenty four hour day. Business all over are able to conduct business at any hour through the internet. This creates jobs through advertisment campaigns where an internet provider, such as google, can collect personal information from internet users, in order to sell to a third party. This is able to be used in many ways to persuade consumers to products that are specific to the persons interest, and financial status. And in many ways, is able to be used in order to discriminate certain consumers based off any factor the corporation so desires.

Blood Stains

In letters, "Bleeding Kansas": A Southern View, by Axalla John Hoole, a man is writing to his family about life in the Midwest for a southerner. Reading his reaction to the events unfolding is actually comforting though. To think of slavery expanding into the Midwest, with territories such as Kansas, is nerve racking. Sadly though, this rational is quintessential of a typical American today. This type of manifest destiny still seems to exist in our present culture. The idea behind expanding and forcing our American beliefs on any people we encounter, and to have law of all lands abide by what we believe as opposed to what works. It's sad to know that any type of conflict the original westerners encountered ended up with violent conflict. The need to fight and kill something seemed to dictate their actions more so than their need to have their values. Its almost as if I'm reading about three year old boys fighting over who gets to own a shiny new toy. I just can't understand where all of this anger and rage stemmed from. I do not understand why there was like some kind of innate capacity for death of others in such a way that seems inhumane. The more I read about our nations history, the more enraged I seem to become. The problem is even after honestly trying to reason and rationalize the decisions that were made, I am still completely confused. I can't seem to wrap my head around this concept of, if someone opposes what you are trying to do with your life, that person should just die. It doesn't seem like any of these settlers even bothered with diplomatically working out their differences. This is exactly the type of behavior that seems to stick to all Americans when being perceived by other nations, and it's ridiculous that I am personally be judged by a standard that was apparent over one hundred years ago.

My Private Fight for Freedom

Always living in Spanish, by Marjorie Agosin is a story about the author holding on to her culture through difficulties in life. Trying to hold on to where I come from has been very difficult for me as well. From moving three times in a year to not having a roof over my head sometimes, Holding on to a part of my past is one of the most difficult things I have dealt with. Of course, the author talks more of tradition and values. The experience that is shared between her and me, is one of fighting to keep the past alive. The past for the author is her upbringing in Chile. The past for me is finding my freedom in writing. Each of our pasts have value to us. But from an outsider's point of view, poor English is more easily made fun of, than the constant feeling of incompleteness I felt from not being imprisoned by my circumstances.

Though the hardships experienced by the author are worse than anything I have ever had to deal with, my family and I moved multiple times due to hardships as well. The idea that I assumed my parents had, when finally deciding to move, was one of seeking a better situation. I have to confess. I do assume everyone in the entire world holds this very same optimistic idea. The idea of trying to find a better situation for myself became so strong for me once, that I had moved out of my parents house before graduation high school.And just as the author wrote, "that other America that looked with suspicion at those who did not speak English," I had experience many people's questioning about why I chose to mover out of my house. Of course, I could understand the simple curiosity at my predicament, the neighbors accusations of my parents' house being a "shit hole" still bothers me.I felt guilt I could not deal with my family like my peers dealt with theirs. I felt out of place that at one point I was living with another family from a different ethnicity. I felt lost in my situation. I felt as though I was learning how to live out in the real world without any kind of real guidance. I can understand how it must have felt for Agosin when she wrote, "not even the sky has the same constellations."

I think that as humans, we try to cope with our situations the best we can. Oddly enough, the author and I share one way of coping with hard times, writing. And though the author used writing as a tool to keep her language and culture alive, I used it to keep my sanity. While staying at a stranger's house for a year, I had found that writing could be a release (of everything that was inside my soul.) Writing had become my Christ. I had gone to writing not because I enjoyed reading, but because no one I knew would read and question my thoughts. It was almost as if text was an entirely separate language from what my peers spoke. I could access any part of my mind and freely work it into a storm of words. Although like all things, this freedom has faded from my life. But I have recently started to write again. And those old feelings of freedom are starting to come back. 

-Yes I know this is a repost. But this is the revised version.

Enjoy.

The Road to Rebellion

An amazing amount of work can be accomplished over a seven year time period. When it comes to the American colonies in the years 1763 to 1776, amazing is not even come close to the description of rebellious progress that was made in those years. From the outright rebellion of British imposed taxes, the start of the American Revolutionary War, to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the colonies moved faster than a "shot heard 'round the world."

When the English had finished fighting the French and Indian War, England had a tremendous debt. The way that the British parliament decided to take care of this debt was to impose many taxes on the subjects of the British Empire. At the time, a large amount of the colonist considered themselves to be a part of the British Empire despite the differences in opinions. One of these different opinions was the idea that England had the
authority to tax the colonies. Though there were many "loyalist" in the colonies, the opposition to British taxes in the colonies was extremely prominent in the New England colonies. One reason for this opposition came from Benjamin Franklin. When Franklin proposed to parliament, that if parliament is to levy taxes on the colonies, then there should be colonial representation in parliament, only one parliament member agreed with Franklin. This opposition is apparent in a multitude of rebellious acts by the colonist to the crown.
Many of these rebellions were led by Samuel Adams. One type of rebellion that sticks in most people's minds is the Boston Tea Party. This statement of rebellion was one way that rebel leader Samuel Adams gained support from the colonist. The Boston Tea Party was a reaction to the Tea Act, which was only one of many tax acts imposed by British parliament.

This type of rebellion, of course, put the English on the edge of their seats. The British had decided that they needed to end this type of outcry coming out of the colonies. Looking at the colonies almost as children who needed to be punished, Parliament had sent over British troops in order to immediately stop this type of behavior. This type of action by the British could only rally up the colonist even more at this point though. After The Boston Massacre, relations between the British and Colonist were far beyond on edge. From the second the Paul Revere called out "The British are coming!" it would only be logical to think of every colonist in the New England Colonies preparing to defend their freedoms that they felt entitled to. The battles at Lexington and Concord were only the beginning in a very long war, it was in my eyes a much more explosive moment in history than any length of war could ever be. Arguments in the New England Colonist eyes for this, was the idea that the British had directly imposed on their personal freedoms as British citizens, and were more than willing to fight to the death in order to gain that freedom back with or without English rule. Many legislatures in the Second Continental Congress felt the same way about the cause of "New England's war." Congress created the continental army, turning this into a war for all the colonies.

Though the Rebellion of taxes imposed on the colonies could be reason enough to spark an all out revolution through war, no rebellion was greater than that of the Declaration of Independence. Many things have been said about the Declaration of Independence. The numerous firework displays on July Fourth say plenty enough for me. The reasoning for this act of outright legal rebellion was because of the war, as well as Common Sense written by Thomas Paine. Thomas Pain had written a pamphlet that had caused two major effects on the colonies. The first being giving a large portion of the colonist, including congress members, the reasoning it took to look at themselves as people who needed to be free of England. The second effect was that it inspired all the colonies to join in the fight for freedom from England.

In closing, there are many events that took place in the American colonies, in only a matter of seven years. Rebellion, revolution, and declaration of freedom from an oppressor. Though these events have taken place over 200 years ago, the effects of these key events in history have effected every single human being ever to have breathed this earths air since.