The Cereal Story

Many of us don't know the story behind what many of us eat during breakfast, and that is cereal. Cereals became popular to eat for breakfast in the 1900's because it was promoted specifically for vegetarians. At the time, most people would eat for breakfast eggs, bacon, sausage and beef. Cereals gave the advantage of a breakfast without that much protein and fat, a good alternative for the vegetarians. As you may have imagined, the ones behind the idea of this cold breakfast started with a vegetarian movement that took place in the ending of the nineteenth century. Most of the people from the movement were people that belonged to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, including the founder of Kellogg's , William Keith Kellogg. In 1863, James Caleb Jackson created the first breakfast cereal named Granula which had very little success.

In 1877, John Harvey Kellogg, operator of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan accidentally created corn flakes by leaving a batch of boiled wheat soaking overnight and rolling it out. He gived this product to his patients at the hospital, and later his brother Will Keith Kellogg, took the corn flakes to sell as a cereal for the Kellogg Company, founded in 1906. Today both Kellogg and their competitor Post, have their headquarters in Battle Creek, for which the city is nicknamed ''cereal city''.

General Mills started selling cereals in 1924 (sold in South America as Nestle), and from then, the cereal companies made their commercials targeted for children. To help promote this, Kelloggs as well as General Mills, created several animal mascots for each cereal. Tony the Tiger was made for Frosted Flakes, Sam the Toucan was made for Froot Loops, the Trix Rabbit, Lucky Charms, as well as others.

1.Almost always in a group of friends one of them could be a traitor.

2.The only thing you have to do in life is die, the rest depends on you.

3.Traitors exist because they are the people that only think of themselves.

4.In your group of friends, you only have 1 or 2 that are real friends.

5.When someone close to you dies, you never really realize he is dead.

6.Many of the traitors you meet, are also robbers.

7.Trust in your friends and they will trust in you.

8.Death is not the path to destruction it is the path to a better life.

9.Traitors end up beeing the people you less suspect.

10.If your friends always help you, you should also help them.

Last Night Entry and Maus Comparation

Here, I read from approximately page 50 or more untill the end of the book. Ellie is transfered from Auschwitz to Buma then to Gleiwitz and finally to Buchenwald. He ends up loosing many of his friends and eventually his father, who dies three months before Ellie is liberated. After Elie is liberated by the American army, he ends up surviving the Holocaust. Eventhough the story ended sadder than any other story ive read of the Holocaust, this one I felt the most connection with.

The connection I felt with Night is the same I could see within Maus, which is a father-son relationship. Art Spiegelman doesn't get very well with his Vladek, and they often end up fighting over many things. Meanhwile, in Night, Elie wanted to save his father from death, and their relationship becomes even closer as the book ends. I think that somehow they managed to love each other more in the end, because it was basically the only thing they cared about in their world. When I was almost getting to the end, a few tears got out of my eyes, and beleive me or not, this book made me cry! It is one of the few books I've read that has impacted me the most.

Curiously, the day I finished this book,was the day of my grandfather's death anniversary. I can still remember my father getting out of the car and grabbing me very tightly, and seeing water in his eyes. And somehow that image won't leave me in a near future. Sadly, like in Night, we all must face the day in which our loved ones die, one way or another. And I think that was a very important message in this book. Even if Ellie lost faith in God, or in anything, his bond with his father will never die. And I hope mine won't.

Night Entry 4

In this entry of Night, I got to page 34. Ellie has already arrived at Auschwitz, and has been separated from his mother and younger sister, Tzipora. He did not know that at that moment they would be separated for life. afterwards he and his father are taken to a different place in which they take away all of the hairs in their body. Many of the Jewish beleive it is their last moment of life and start to pray the prayer of the dead. And many did die. Ellie says tha he would never forget seeing babies burned in the crematory, and loosing faith in his own religion.

''Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust.'' pg. 32

I think that seeing this, is a very sad and destructive part of the book, which shows how the army of evil marched all over the face of Europe and left many without faith in their religion. I beleive that this is not the fault of a God or any supernatural being. This catastrophe happened, because the WORLD didn't do anything to stop it untill it was too late. Let this be a lesson for many and all of us.

Night Entry 3

In this entry of Night which I read untill page 27, Ellie is sent to a smaller ghetto, and later sent in a train to a concentration camp. Their, before getting to Auschwitz, a guard announced they were arriving to Auschwitz. That was the first time any of them had herd of the name. This surprisingly, was a name the survivors will never forget in their lives.

This book shares one very common thing with the stories of other Holocaust survivors, either in the film The Painist, Maus, Number the Stars, The Cage and other such films and books. That my friends is hatred. In page 17, we ca see why: '' It was from that moment that I began to hate them, and my hate is the only link between us today.They were our first oppressors. They were the first of the faces of hell and death.'' This is also the main reason why I don't really like the Holocaust or the stories of it's survivors. Besides from the Nazi's being the ultimate villains that satanically and barbarically killed many hundreds of Jews. The Jews regardless from which country they came from Hungary, Poland, Austria or Denmark, responded with revenge and the same hatred the Germans had showed them earlier. Does this leave the world with anything valuable to remember? It only left a sad, scarred and humilliating past for many Europeans today.

Night Entry 2

On this second entry, of Night, Ellie is found in their village by the Nazi's. After the Passover ends, the Nazi's decide to arrest the leaders of the Jewish community. They were forced to give in their gold, jewelry and other valuable items to the Germans. They were forced to use the Star of David and were also forced to live in a ghetto found in the neighborhood that Ellie lived in. Ellie's family gave part of their home to family member's that struggled to survive.

Afterwards, the father of Ellie was called to assist a very important Jewish Council. When he returned, pale and exhausted he announced his family that the Nazi's were going to take them somewhere far away. They did not know were to go, except for the President of the Jewish Council how was threatened to death if he would say anyone.

The Sodom and Gomorrah Warning Letter

Mr. Tangen, I did this the day you didn't come. I decided to post it on the blog.

Dear Citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah,

You MUST leave this city as soon as possible. The reason why is because the LORD God will send fire and smoke from heaven and burn the city to the ground. If you do not leave this place by tomorrow the city and everything looking or surrounding it will turn into salt. Get out and survive while you still can!