#3 History Summary

Two of the three authors spoke generally on the same terms while the third spoke on more of a different note. For the reading in the book, the first author named Anton Montecino, gave a sermon about the Spanish conquest. He spoke that the Spaniards were in mortal sin for slaughtering the Indians. Montencino posed the question, "Are you not under God's command to love them as you love yourselves?" The frair said that their greed and blindness would bring them to damnation. The author, of the second part in the book, who is unknown, had his or her own view. He or she wrote about the Requerimiento which was the Spaniards justification for conquest. It wrote that if the Indians submitted, the Spaniards would welcome them and leave them, their wives, and their children alone. On the other hand, if the Indians resisted, the Spaniards would invade their country, start war, and make them slaves. From what I could tell he was for the conquest of the Indians. Bartolome de Las Casas, author of the primary reading, was also appauled by the treatment of the Indians. He was disgusted that the soldiers would kill men, women, and children without mercy. He appeared to be mostly against the violence that occured against the Indians.
I of course also have my own opinions about the authors ideas. I think that both Montencino and Las Casas were partially right in their thinking if not completely right. Montencino made a good point when he asked if God does not command to love others as themselves. If the Spaniards believed that then why would they kill others in his name? I also believe that it was wrong to kill the Indians in the brutal ways that the Spaniards did. Las Casas wrote that the soldiers would take babies away from their mothers and crush them. I find such acts to be disgusting and barbaric. The unknown author seemed to think it was okay to kill the Indians if they did not submit. I find that wrong because I feel that only God has the right to judge who does and does not die, not the people who represent him. At the least I think the Spaniards should have let the innocents live and not kill everyone they found. As a whole, I feel that the Spaniards conquering the Indians was wrong on many levels. All the lives they cut short, only so they could improve their own wealth and power.

#2 Writing Philosophy

On a regular basis I do not do much writing. Most of the writing I do is for academic essays and for responding to messages on Myspace. Other than these, I generally try to avoid writing. In terms of Myspace messaging there is no planned way that I approach it. I read what the other person typed and then I respond with what ever comes to mind first, as long as it is related to the subject at hand. For academic essays, I usually start my writing by organizing my information. Once that is complete, I obviously start to write the essay. The templates in They Say/ I Say do and do not affect the process for these. When messaging, the templates do not often affect the process unless I am debating or arguing with the other person about a specific topic because I usually do not use the template. When I am arguing, such a template is quite useful. On the other hand, using this template on academic essays can be more of a problem. Most essays I have done in the past have been research essays with set information. With these kinds of essays, the research is often set information leaving little or no room to tell what you think or have to say about the topic. With the information, I have my own opinion but more often than not, the assingment does not call for, or require, my thoughts. On those few essays and assingments when others can give me their opinions and I can give mine back, this template is actually quite helpful. This template can help me organize my thoughts and ideas in a way so I can write them effectively. As you probably already guessed, I'm not much of a writer. When I do have to write though, the specific templates mentioned in They Say/ I Say can often be quite helpful depending on the give assingment or essay.

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How does one define writing? There can obviously be many different definitions depending on the person. The authors of this "book" have their own definition of writing as well. They define writing as a way to debate their ideas, to discuss their ideas, and a way to challenge the ideas of others. They say it is a skill that either comes naturally or is learned through time and practice. I, myself, have a somewhat different view. I define writing as a way to express ourselves. It is a way to express our feelings, emotions, joys, and sorrows, without the need to verbally communicate them. I still agree that writing is a way to debate and argue thoughts or points of view. As you can see there are many definitions of what writing is but they all depend upon the person and what they believe.