HHH: Herman Hesse on Hatred

Herman Hesse was a German writer and painter during the rise of Nazi Germany. From the end of the 1930s, German journals stopped publishing Hesse's work, and his work was eventually banned by the Nazis. He lived in one of the most hateful political environments of the 20th Century and here's what he had to say about hate:

"If you hate a person you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What is not part of ourselves does not bother us."

Interested in more from Herman Hesse? Check out Siddharthta (1922), Steppenwolf (1927), or The Glass Bead Game (1943). The last of these one the Nobel Prize.

Teamwork Towers

Above: Tyler S., Tim C., and Cody B. work silently to steady their tower.

We have been learning a whole lot of things in Mr. Walkers English class this summer, and today, after we finished writing our essays, we played a constructive game called Teamwork Towers in groups. Mr. Walker gave each group 14 note cards, 1 rubber band, 3 paper clips, 2 binder clips, and told us that with these items we had to try to build the tallest tower. The only rule was that we could not communicate vocally to each other. We could only use hand motions. Then, we repeated the activity, only the second time we were allowed to talk to each other. The winners for the first round had a 16" tower, but for the second round the tallest tower was 20.5" tower. We all had a great time and learned that it is easier to communicate when you use spoken language.