The Great Othello

There once was a black man, Othello
A brave and courageous young fellow

In love he did fall
With a lovely white doll

But their marriage was simply not mellow!

I feel that if Othello were white rather than black, the play would definitely be different. Othello's skin color does have an effect on how others treat him. Even though he is a person of high status, whether or not he was good enough to marry a white woman, Desdemona, soon becomes an issue. Iago, who is white, is the villain of the play. Iago uses extremely racist terms when talking about Othello, so if Othello had been white, the racist terms would not have been used. It is made apparent that Iago is not a fan of blacks which gives him even more incentive to try and hurt Othello in any way he can.

In my opinion if Othello were white, Iago and everyone else for that matter, would have had more respect for him. If he had been white, he would have been like everyone else. He was appreciated by many because of his accomplishments as a general, but the moment he eloped with Desdemona, many became upset.

I believe Iago would have still been awful to Othello, since Iago is simply a rotten person, but the racist remarks would have been eliminated. Perhaps, Othello would not have become so jealous about his wife had he been white because he would have been more confident and their marriage more accepted.

Overall, I think the play would have been different, if Othello had been white. Another question to think about would be, would the play have been different if Iago had been black?

There once was a man named Othello
Who use to be calm and quite mellow

He committed a crime
And we'll see in short time

What's to become of this fellow!

9/11

They thought nothing of it as the planes flew by
Then suddenly everything seemed to die

As the World Trade Center began to fall
The country just came to a sudden stall

The whole world watched in absolute shock
Yet the U.S. held steady, solid as a rock

As our nation grieved and began to cry
We became stronger and we managed to get by

It is ten years later and to many's surprise
The terrorist attacks were not our demise

We are a great country no matter what they say
And we will never forget that one dreadful day

Dear Abby,

Dear Abby,

I know that people who write to you usually don't use real names when they ask for advice, but I feel you will be able to better advise me on my problem if you know who I actually am. My name is Roderigo and I am madly in love with a woman named Desdemona. Unfortunately, Desdemona is already married to another man-Othello. This makes me feel a great sense of jealousy towards Othello. I cannot understand why she would have chosen Othello to marry when she could have had me. I am also friends with Iago who has been trying to help me with the Desdemona situation. I am so madly in love with Desdemona that I even considered committing suicide because I truly feel I cannot live without her! Iago managed to talk me out of killing myself, and instead has said that for a price he will help me win over Desdemona. He wants me to sell my land and belongings so that I have cash available. I am willing to do what he says if it will bring me closer to what I want. Iago has assured me that he can help me be with Desdemona. I really hope this advice works, and although I am skeptical, I am more than willing to accept Iago's plan and I do hope it works. Iago already had me try to stir things up by having me be the one to tell Desdemona's father that she snuck off in the night to marry the Moor.

What do you think? Am I crazy to think that Desdemona will actually leave her husband to be with me? Do you think I should trust Iago to help me convince Desdemona to give up on her marriage to Othello? Please don't tell me to just forget her, because I simply cannot. She is what I think about all the time. Whatever advice you can provide would be appreciated. I will eagerly await your reply.

Sincerely,

Roderigo, AKA "Love Sick in Venice"

Journal #1 "The Crash"

I can't exactly remember the last time I laughed so hard that I cried, but it could have quite possibly been when I was camping along the Madison River with a large group of friends. The night we got to our campsite we decided to float the river. Instead of bringing four separate tubes to use to float in we decided to all try and get in one large tube called Big Bertha and attempt to make it down the river. The trouble first started when we all tried to all get in the tube. The four of us who chose to attempt this daring feat were Steve, Payson, Brooke, and myself. Well, our first attempt at piling into the tube was quite the failure. This had us all laughing pretty hard. Attempt two resulted in us flipping the tube. Steve, Payson, and I ended up hitting the water first, soon to be followed by Brooke who landed on top of us. This crash resulted in a huge roar of uncontrollable laughter coming from all of us except for Steve because he was screaming in pain from bashing his knee on a rock. I feel like this was a great experience and it could quite possibly have been the last time I laughed so hard that I cried.