Blog 4 Directions

1. Go to:http://writingfix.com/leftbrain/decalogue.htm. Scroll to the bottom where you are prompted to press the button for a decalogue idea. It would be a challenge to force yourself to do the first one it gives you, but there is no way for me to monitor this, so the challenge is up to you.
2. When you begin your post, first provide the type of list you are going to create.

3. Create a list of FIVE.

4. Choose ONE of those ideas and write a paragraph illustrating the truth behind the idea. For example, the first one I came to is, "The five people that I need to write about are . . ." I would first create the list, then highlight one of my choices by explaining it. Try to keep the writing formal, so avoid the unnecessary "I"s and other lazy writing pitfalls. My sample is below. As always, you don't have to be like me, but often, a sample makes people more comfortable. If you want to respond to it, please do. I won't sabotage your grade! :-) I actually like the criticism.

5. The end result will be a example that reveals something about yourself. You'll see.

Good luck and have fun.




The Top Five People I Need to Write About
In no particular order:

1. Leonardo DaVinci
2. Jesus Christ
3. Martin Luther King Jr.
4. My daughter Isabella
5. My high school mentors

** The purple paragraph is the example; what precedes it was a introduction draft to guide my thinking. You don't have to do this. It helped me focus my thoughts.

There are certain truths about myself I have come to accept. I draw worse than my six year old daughter, my extent of scientific discovery is my Erector set quasi-suspension bridge I built when I was ten years old, and I seem to suffer from AAD (art appreciation disorder). All these deficiencies would suggest I an neither a Renaissance man, nor have appeals to one. This could not be further from the truth. One man, aside my Lord and Savior, inspires me most to become something great. Unbeknownst to him, Leonardo da Vinci inspires me to reach quintessence.

My first connection to Leonardo DaVinci came when I mistakenly thought we actually had meaningful common bonds. First and foremost, we're both Italian, so we're practically family. We're both left-handed, too, and thus represent a mere 10% of the population, although he decided to learn to write using his right hand, as well as backwards; I just cope being a representative of the 10% of the world. These qualities, in addition to his status as sword-wielding Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle just began my intrigue. I soon discovered that I admired Da Vinci for all the wrong reasons.

Sure, it would be nice to wax philosophical with him on the inner workings of a homemade ravioli, but his true essence was in his tireless curiosity--a characteristic for which I have been both praised and vilified. For him, life was about looking first, thinking next, acting last. I have been told on many occasion that I simply think too much. For me, life is about contemplation and ramification--what choices do I have and what might happen as a result of said choices. The contemplative life is what led Da Vinci to discoveries generations before their time. These discoveries and creations illustrate what most makes a true Renaissance man, and a man after my heart: a life of balance. His love of science and art was tantamount: for every Mona Lisa he created, there was a Vitruvian man. For every one of his inventions used to propagate war--catapult, tank, machine gun, submarine, cluster bomb, helicopter-- he was dedicated to prolonging life by dissections of human corpses. He continuously walked the bridge between art and science, all while letting faith guide him. Although known as a religious revisionary, he never forgot to recognize the omnipotence of God within nature, from light to botany, to the human body. This renaissance man continues to spark rebirth in my life.