Edgar Allen Poe

     The short story, "Fall of the House of Usher" written by Edgar Allen Poe has many psychological aspects that add to the Gothic elements. For example, the description of the house itself helps foreshadow that something terribly bad is going to happen. The outside of the house is described as being dark, and gothic. It even has eye-like windows and he starts to see a sad face on the house. He is personifying the house and the giving it a sad life. It definitely connects with the Usher family, since they are all intermarried with one other, they have many genetic problems. The inside of the house also resembles the outside and Usher's condition is linked with the house as well. The house also seems to be effecting Roderick's mind as well. Another psychological aspect in this story is the sister supposedly dead and after they bury her under the house, he feels a presence in his room and a thunder storm is added to create tension. While he is reading Roderick a novel about a knight clawing himself out of his grave, he starts to hear noises coming from the house. This signifies that the sister is doing the same exact thing while he is reading.

A Media War in Egypt

     With there still being protests taking place in Egypt, the article "As Clashes Continue in Egypt, A Media War Breaks Out" founded in NYTimes.com and written by David D. Kirkpatrick, discusses how a whole new type of battle broke out this Sunday in Cairo. The battle consists between the Egyptian's own state-run media and the independent media on whose to blame for the violence that is recently taking place. Human rights advocates are blaming that the Egyptian government has ordered a campaign of distortion specifically to cover up violence done by the military. The biggest problem now brought up because of this war, is the support of the public. Since there in no public support on either side, there is no final decision made whether the newly elected parliament will control of the government and the new constitution or the military instead. New videos shown on Egyptian television have presented the military shooting protesters within very close range that ended up as being fatal. Despite the fact that former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak is gone, there is still much violence and chaos left in the country. Unfortunately, most of the killings and beatings are being done by their own military. Based off of this article, it is obvious it is going to take a while until the government and life in Egypt become stable.

The Raven

     The Raven is dark poem written by Edgar Allen Poe and the poem's name itself is already scary since Ravens are the color black. The poem fits in the idea of Gothic poetry because of the setting, which takes place in December, during winter at midnight and in a palace. In the poem, someone is knocking on the door, but when he opens no one is there. The second time he is trying to relax himself by saying it is the wind hitting the window and this is building up tension. It is also very Gothic because Edgar Allen Poe mentions a woman named Lenore, who is assumed to have died violently. Throughout the poem, he realizes that there is a raven outside the door and he thinks that it is saying "nevermore". At first he thinks that it will leave because everybody else and even hope has left him, but it still stayed. After, he links the raven to Lenore and he feels that there is someone with him. This is also considered to be supernatural and since he is talking to the raven, this shows psychological torment after Lenore died. The raven is associated with something bad and because it is not leaving, he will always remember how she died and he will never be able to move on.

Quality of Air in Western Skies

     The article "Quality of Air? That's as Murky as Western Sky" is from NYtimes.com and is written by Kirk Johnson. Lately, there have dust storms all over the Western side of America and is now starting to effect the water faucets in Los Angeles, the public health in Utah, and even tourism. Due to global warming and climate change. more and more stable soil is now starting to loosen up. Researchers are saying that because of off road vehicles and the drought's impact, it is starting to cause dust to rise up and move around. The dusts main source is said to be coming from the Colorado Plateau. Over the last couple of years, the number of winter dust storms have increased, which affects the rate of melting snows into the Colorado River. This is very dangerous because that is the main water source for more than 20 million people. Also, dust storms carry chemicals too, such as iron oxides. This article is extremely important because dust storms are just one of the many risks that come from global warming and from a simple climate change, many people's lives can be put into danger.