Thursday, February 28, 2013

Part II Devil Blog Question (Option 3)

Parts 1 & 2 are full of an array of characters with different kinds of personalities. Between the options of the shady Holmes, the overall-picture guy Olmsted, and the logic-oriented Burnham, who do you most relate to and why?

50 comments:

  1. I think I relate best to Burnham. This is mainly because every single time I'm put ion charge of anything, I try to go about it logically. This usually blows up in my face. Whether it's just things that simply go wrong from the plan being flawed, or people not listening, or people just not doing their jobs right there's always a lot of issues and I try to knock them out as efficiently as possible. Like just the other night closing at Dairy Queen, I had a logical plan and gave everyone jobs to do since I was the most experienced closer there. Upon them telling me all was done, they asked the manager to leave, and they went home. I was there an extra half hour fixing their mistakes, and doing what they forgot. The frustration! Nothing compared to the challenges facing Burnham with this fair though! Thank goodness!

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    1. I agree with Austin. Burnham seems the most logical choice for me. Though I don't connect in the same ways as Austin, Burnham has a lot on his plate with the White City and I have a decent amount to do with Spring Wind. Okay, so I'm not exactly constructing buildings and overseeing tasks like what flowers would complement the water in the lake which has to have boats with just the right kind of style on them. But I AM in charge of large parts of the insane week that is Spring Wind. So naturally I connect with Burnham over the mere fact that we have a lot of stuff to do and little time to do it. Burnham seems as though he is a kind of man who isn't happy with anything less than perfection. He has had the chance over and over to choose ideas for the city that would keep him on schedule, but he instead chose to wait until a better more perfect choice came along. I, like Burnham, am a perfectionist. I will spend far too much time on certain projects in order to make them as close to perfect as I can.

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    2. Amen to Zachie! I believe I personally associate the most character traits with
      Burnham. He is constantly looking for ways to solve the problem at hand, and he
      is a blatant do-er. I as well try to accomplish every task presented to me, to
      the quite highest degree of my abilities. When Burnham has an idea in mind, he
      stops at NOTHING to execute his task, and has an unmatchable drive to be
      successful. I also have this drive and persistence to succeed, which is shown
      through my school work and completion of tasks. (Except not around the house..
      My room always looks like the aftermath of hurricane Katrina;) ) However, for
      certain things that hold great amounts of imperitiveness for me, I strive to
      become the best I can possibly be, as Burnham models with his execution of the
      world fair. Also, though on a time crunch, Burnham never ever sees his situation
      as impossible. I try to have this outlook on life and believe that anything can
      be accomplished if you have passion, drive, and desire!:)
      -Bridget Donovan (sorry my computers being sups sketch tonight and wouldn't let
      me post via email)

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    3. I agree that I also seem to relate the most to Burnham. He's a very hard working individual; nothing that he has was just handed to him on a silver platter. He struggled a bit on the way up and works hard to stay where he is. I think that that relates to me in swimming. I started as a rookie my freshman year. I'm not going to embellish my abilities; I was flat out terrible and I knew it. But being terrible didn't make me give up. I worked as hard as I could, and moved up a few lanes. I returned sophomore year and was starting JV. I swam with girls that I only hoped to be like when I was a freshman. I kept moving up in the swim world to lane 6 of 8, 8 being the starting varsity lane. I returned my Junior year after swimming all summer and pushing myself to be better. I wanted it so badly, and I tried, failed, and tried some more. Finally when it was time to return to HHS I was in lane 7 of 8. I looked back to the rookie lane 1 where I was freshman year and felt accomplished. But just because I got that varsity letter doesn't mean I could just stop fighting. I had to fight harder to stay there. Swimming doesn't come easy to me, whatsoever. It's extremely hard and frustrating sometimes. So I think that I can relate to Burnham in that we both worked to where we are and do everything we can to stay there. I also think that I relate to him in his busy schedule. I have swimming, musicals, swim lesson teaching, ski lesson teaching, voice lessons, etc all at any given time and I'm constantly running around, but that's the type of person I am. I can't just sit around, I have to be doing something. Burnham is similar with that fair and all of the obstacles like the storm and the union and construction. It seems Burnham & I are two peas in a pod.

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  2. I believe that I relate most of all to Holmes. No, that does not make me a psychopath or a serial killer. I feel as if I can see the way he thinks, and it models my own thoughts, to a far lesser extent. I’m going to end up sounding like a serial killer, aren’t I? Anyway, many of Holmes’ motivations for performing the terrible acts that he does stem from similar thoughts to how I see the world. I enjoy planning a complex event, and I also feel great pride when it goes off without a hitch. There’s a certain power to be had in planning anything, the excitement of everything going just perfectly, in organizing and overcoming difficulties with some quick thinking and ingenuity. Cleaning up after the event is always a hassle, (just ask Baranski about oobleck), but planning it is stressful but satisfying. I also have dreamed of creating a house with secret passages and hidden staircases and the like, though my personal vision does not include murder, or hidden death, in any way, shape, or form. One crucial way that Holmes and I differ, however, (other than the serial killer part) is in our execution of the plans. I am a very open person and a terrible liar and secret keeper. I could never keep up the calm, cool deception that Holmes has kept in place very efficiently so far in the novel. Hopefully that makes me less likely to become a great serial killer, as I’d be found out right away.

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    1. I too find myself relating to holmes more than any other character. I find myself spending a great deal of time studying and watching people, As Holmes obviously has to do. I hope this does not make me sOund very much like serial killer. also like previously stated I'm also a planner. before I do anything there's a very good chance I will spend up to or at least half of an hour planning on what I'm going to do.

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    2. I agree with Alyssa, I believe I'm most like Holmes. Again, not a serial killer (OR AM I?), but in the way he plans things. His plans were well-executed, but a lot of them seemed kind of last minute, like, "Yes I will sell this store to you, Ned Conner. Yes, I will take over your drug store, ma'am." I definitely do things last minute (example: blog posts), but I think if I were to kill anybody, I would think about it for a while first. That sounds horrible, but murder is a big decision and it shouldn't be taken lightly, and it seems like Holmes took his murder-castle and sticking people in kilns pretty lightly. The style in which his parts were written in and the way he was characterized made him seem very easy going and quick to cover his tracks, very calm. These characteristics, however, don't connect with me. I am incapable of choosing where to get dinner (ask Zach), and driving a car down the high way makes me shake with anxiety. I often half-do things, like I'll paint the nails on one hand and get bored and not do the other. This couldn't be done in Holmes situation, with the big life-changing (life-ending) decisions he had to make all the time. So while I wouldn't be able to do what Holmes did, I still believe I am most like him as far as the execution of his plans go.

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  3. As I was reading, I began to think I connected the most to H.H. Holmes for his semblance of a sound mind. But as Frederick Law Olmsted’s character further developed it clicked that we were in fact the most alike. Olmsted began the process of construction in high spirits ready to preserve his pride in what he loved most: landscape architecture. But it became evident that as the World’s Fair clock was ticking away, his worries were becoming overly cumbersome. Thus, he took it upon himself, as an individual, to fix what he thought were mishaps in the planning of the World’s Fair. I believe the frustration Olmsted was feeling in this group project, so to speak, reflects my own perfectionistic tendencies. Most of the time, when I have a vision about the outcome of something, I get disgruntled by anything that goes against that vision. Yet, I also end up getting disenchanted along the way because as time passes the possibility of perfection slips further out of my reach. So, it is this same overwhelming sense of helplessness Olmsted feels as people are skewing his plans and progress is stunted. This idealistic way of thinking Olmsted and I share, to my experience, leads to detrimental effects on the state of mind. Of course, perfection is not always attainable, but that tends to make a perfectionist bitter and melancholic like a sand loaded blanket overtop of you is not only suffocating but also not permitting you to resurrect.

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  4. This is kind of a funny question. Trying to connect to a serial killer seems almost far-fetched. So I thought about it a bit more and I realized that I most connect to Burnham. I feel that he gets very stressed over the little things, the things in danger of getting done. And that is how I am. Sure I am a notorious procrastinator; BUT, when the chips are down I stress. I push myself to the limits sometime to get things done. I most relate to Burnham in this aspect. He is the architect trying to change things so they can get done on time. Trying his hardest to make sure everyone sees the reality of the deadline. Burnham is also a dreamer though. He has plans as big as the rest of the boys, and he won’t give up no matter the obstacle. I think I relate to Burnham in this sense too. I dream about doing great things, things that are just out of reach, and with that even if I fall short the end result will be nothing shy of fabulous. I think Burnham knows that with the designs of the buildings if they fall short in certain aspects the fair will be something fabulous, something worthwhile. Lastly Burnham is very logical. I’d like to think that I am logical too. I’m always figuring logistics into whatever I do, whether it is the logistics of getting my homework done on time or how fast I should leave the hours in order to make it out unnoticed. I like logic, in math I like to know why that works. Or problems that just follow a strict pattern, it just makes me happy. And maybe I like logic so much because I have a touch of OCD, but that is beside the point. I relate to Burnham most; because, he is logical like me.

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  5. The diverse skills and characteristics lead me to believe that I am most like Daniel Burnham. He was put into an enormous position of leadership for Chicago and the United States. His ideal world's fair was one that would shock all who witnessed it. I have this same mindset as I go into a project. I need it to be perfect and I'll only let others see it if I think they'll enjoy it. He was thrust into the position of the head architect for the World's Fair of 1893, which is what happens to me a lot at school when I am participating in a group project. Though our projects aren't nearly as high profile as a world's fair they are stressful. I think through everything logically and plan to execute it that way until everything seems to fall apart at the last minute. Nothing ever seems to go as planned just like with Daniel Burnham. It took him many months just to figure out where the fair would take place and beyond that he seemed to procrastinate as much as he could. That is the epitome of Nick Betts. Procrastinate everything until the last minute and than struggle to get everything done. I didn't choose this life, this life chose me. Those are the words of a procrastinator. I also want to be an architect or a structural engineer when I get older. Burnham and myself are very alike when it comes to some of our character traits.

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  6. Thankfully I don't find myself relating to Holmes at all,but i do feel that i relate to Burnham quite a bit. He was put in charge of this huge world's fair which was basically just created to show up Paris. He took it to a whole different level when he designed this fair and he got it done. I feel like I am the same way. When I'm set in charge of something I like to do it right and I like to do it big. Usually what I'm put in charge of is a school project. A school project isn't exactly the world's fair but in the life of Nate Carpenter it can amount to just that. Nothing ever goes the right way or the way I envisioned it and I end up changing plans half way through and then I just fake it from there and it generally turns out fantastic. I feel like Burnham is basically doing the same thing but on a much grander scale then my Spanish or English project. I can respect that.

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    1. I think that is how most of the grand plans of life go: great ideas, difficulty with follow-through, change it, fake it for a while, see it through to its conclusion, and be done. I'm glad the life of Nate Carpenter follows the same model!

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  7. I feel that i can most relate with Burnham. And not just because I do not want to think I am like a serial killer. Burnham is a leader, he is in charge of the World Fair. That is a big task to take on. I feel that I am a leader most of the time doing all the stuff that nobody else wants to. Calling all the shots in situations. Time is not on his side neither is it on mine. Mine is just pure procrastination and my own fault. His is because no else wants to get done work on time. Which I guess is sometimes the case for me. He gets so annoyed by the fact that if something does not get done it is on him. So do I. It also seems like nothing can ever go right, for him either. If is not time pressuring him its other architects and American public. Something bad is always happening.

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    1. I think that I relate most to the character Burnham because one, I don't see myself as a serial killer and also because Burnham comes off as being independent and also a lead role on the building of the World Fair. When Root died, Burnham had to take on an even larger role on trying to complete the fair. He had to do so much more work than all of the other workers working on it. With him practically directing the building of the fair, he had to do what was best for him, the workers, and the city of Chicago. I relate myself to this because I always want to be efficient and try to get it done as quickly as possible. Even though he has been working on the fair for years, he does come off as time short. I tend to procrastinate a lot when it comes to large projects just like him. With projects that I work on, I always have a group that will help me out just like him, but with his, they tend to not be efficient and don't get a lot of work done which adds even more time on. Sometimes when people aren't happy with what they get, they point fingers at whose fault it is and with a huge project like his, it would be easy to just point at the director of it, which is him. This makes me so upset when people do that to me or even other people. Mr. Burnham and I share many similarities which makes it even more interesting to read about him and the progress he has in the book.

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  8. At first I related to H H Holmes, not is relation to his act of killing, but more in his way of doing things. I like to be a part of a great project and I also like to be the leader of the group, which relates me to Burnham. When he crests the worlds fair he takes on a huge task, he's organizing this entire thing on his own and trying to be a leader at the same time. I can relate to this because I like to work with others and I also like to take the lead. I'm good with people, as is he. But I also get frustrated when things don't go my way. I feel like its all up to me just like Burnham. I feel like I can connect to Burnham the most while reading this book.

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    1. I can agree with Allie for relating to Holmes not for murder but for having a way of doing things and getting what you want done. The way Holmes does things is obviously not how people should deal with their problems but when he wants to solve a problem, he does. Holmes creates more problems in his life that are unnecessary and that he makes out to seem bigger then they are. Like him, I usually solve my problems the wrong way. Not with murder or anything like that, but just the wrong way in the eyes of others. He could have avoided a lot of problems in his life and honestly we all could, but we act on impulse and then do not know how to get ourselves out of our own disasters. Not saying that I am a murderer or that I will ever become on, but when you think about what he's doing beside the murder he's just a man making terrible decisions and letting people into his life that he shouldn't.

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    2. The impulsiveness of Holmes -- that is a interesting idea. I suppose we all have impulses, most of us know when to act on them and when to ignore them.

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  9. I feel that I relate with Burnham the most. I’m not nearly as smooth as Holmes, nor am I a serial killer! I feel like a lot of the time I get a lot of jobs thrown at me, and that I have to try and manage everything despite certain things not going as planned. I’ve done endless group projects where I’ve had to take charge because no one else would, and because things were not getting done. Things fall apart, group members forget their portion of assignments and we throw everything together last minute. It seems like as deadlines approach, more stress, more problems, and more procrastination occurs. That seems to be happening to Burnham. I couldn’t help but relate to him as he stressed over architects turning in drawings late, construction slowing, and time crunching down. He tries to tackle everything logically, and make sure everything gets done on time. I completely relate with it. I also agree with Austin when he talks about DQ. More experienced workers always get the work thrown at them, while everyone else doesn’t even attempt to pick up much slack. That’s how I imagine Burnham is feeling with everything not going as planned. But I like that he tackles things in a logical order, the most important things first. I relate!

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  10. I think I could most easily relate to Burnham because we both try, as best as we can, to think through things as logically as possible. We both attempt to think about things and act upon them according to the most reasonable outcome and the best logic behind the thoughts.
    For example, in debate I have to be able to plan the best method of attacking my opponent’s case in order to win but also maintain high speaker points. So both the outcome and the thoughts behind it have to be logical.
    I also think I connect to this amount of stress that he inflicts upon himself. Burnham tends to stress out over things that either don’t matter or that only somewhat matter in the long run. I tend to do the same. I’ll spend an entire weekend worrying about a small five point quiz or something. I doesn’t matter at all in the long run but I find that I can’t help it.
    I also feel like a lot of the stress he deals with comes from his leadership position for the World’s Fair. This is easily relatable for me because I feel like even when I don’t want to I usually end up having to take on being the leader. At times this is ok because then you can make sure it’s up to your standards but at other times you just wish someone else would step in for once.

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  11. I believe I relate to Burnham more than I do with the other characters in the book. Sometimes I can be a little insane and people may think I'm a bit like Holmes, but I'm not crazy enough to kill someone. Burnhams's determination on building the fair parallels my determination in everything I do. He is always looking for the best pieces to accent the fair and tries to make it go as perfect as he can. As we all learn in reading this book, his plans don’t always go as smooth as he thought it would. When things take a turn for the worst, I tend to freak out. Just like Burnham, I get so worked up about the little things when I should be worrying about something bigger. I agree with Kerstin, that his stress comes from being the leader to the people involved in the huge project. I, myself, get stressed easily when I have a huge load on my shoulders. I believe his stress is put into good use though, because he uses it as his fuel to get stuff done. When I stress out, it just gets me more determined to finish what I’ve started. But even I get so overloaded I can’t handle it and I feel like Burnham has those feelings in the book as well. It’s not easy being the leader, but it’s not better being a follower.

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  12. After reading this question I sat back and thought about what kind of person I am. I realized that I am most like Burnham in the way of getting things done and making sure they are done right. I'm that one friend who is always trying to plan things for everyone and if something doesn't go right then I feel like I have failed. Burnham, being put in charge of such a great task, has to try and get everything to flow in a cohesive manner. This is exactly how I feel when being put in charge of a project. For example, I was voted to be one of the team captains for the track team, so being put into a leadership role makes me want everything and everyone to get along and get things done. I think Burnham's mind set and mine are very similar. He liked to think things through before putting it into action and being a teenager in this society, I feel like it is very important to think before we act.

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    1. Nice specific examples from your life to create you comparison to Burnham! The 'thinking things through' trait is a great piece of what separates Burnham from Holmes!

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  13. As I read on I also find myself relating to Daniel Burnham. I have noticed that he is pretty caught up in his work. The story has stated multiple times that he hardly even talks to his wife and family. I find myself also getting caught up in things besides family also. Between school and athletics my life can get pretty hectic at times. Most of the time I am only home and awake for about 3 hours. Those 3 hours usually consist of homework, eating, and getting ready for the next time. It's hard to simply spend time with family. Like Burnham, I feel bad about not being able to do much as a family. I plan to spend more time with them this summer when I'm done with school, and I won't have as much time committed to sports. Burnham also plans on spending more time with his family after his project is finished. Also like Burnham, I take a lot of care in whatever project I'm working on. I like to make sure that I did the best job that I possibly could have. He has the same perspective on getting things done. In the story he is extremely focused on creating something that will outdo the Eiffel tower. Even when other architects seem to ignore that part he keeps pushing for something grand enough to impress the world.

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    1. Another example of drawing nice specifics from your life to connect to the character! You hit the nail on the head with Burnham because he is worried about a lot of things ALL of the time, but his family is his constant worry.

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  14. I think the character I most closely relate to is Burnham. He is in charge of the construction of the fair and is trying to organize it in a systematic way. Whenever I am in charge of a large task I always try to come up with a logical plan first. I definitely procrastinate sometimes, but that makes the situation even more relatable because Burnham has to do so much in so little time. Whenever I don't have much time to finish something I need to get done, I really work hard to accomplish it, as Burnham is doing in the story.

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    1. Logical is definitely a great adjective for Burnham. Sometimes being logical takes more time than acting impulsively to seek instant gratification... Being impulsive can get you what you want in the present, but being logical gets you what you want in the long run.

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  15. I'll volunteer to be the first to have a divergent answer and say that I identify most with Olmsted. My current mood in life right now is "I DIDN'T ASK TO BE BORN". I'm feeling super overwhelmed with everything and just jsalkdjlska bleh! Olmsted probably feels this same way with his planning of the world's fair. Being the architect of the fair, he has a plethora of things to do and not much time to get it done. Sleeping is considered optional. On the first page of part two of this story, it describes Olmsted as "warn and gray, except for his eyes, which gleamed beneath his bald skull like marbles of lapis". I can definitely relate to this appearance of exhaustion, yet, a hint of life is still existent in me. Yes, being a high school student doesn't nearly have the same expectations as does being the architect of Chicago's World's Fair, BUT, the stress level of both Olmsted and I is definitely comparable. Besides the general burden of life that's put upon us two, I can identify with Olmsted through his work ethic. Olmsted prides himself in his success, and I believe I do that as well. When Olmsted visits Paris to examine the old grounds of the Paris World's Fair, he makes note of every detail. When viewing the Paris buildings, he wrote of how they "have much more color and much more ornament in color, but much less in moulding and sculpture than i had supposed...I question if ours are not at fault in this respect..." Olmsted makes observations and learns from examples and experiences of others. When I carry out projects or plans, I'm kind of the same way. I'll look for examples and figure out how to modify them to be the best that they can be. I pretty much identify with Olmsted wholly based on the fact that I'm tired. And overwhelmed. And. Yeah. But, I guess, I'd rather be contemplating a snow day for tomorrow, than worrying about how the hell I'm going to make a gigantic, functioning, Ferris wheel, yikes!

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    1. oh lol jk Eleni already said Olmsted, oops

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    2. I completely agree with LuAnna! There are many ways in which I found myself relating to Olmstead. Throughout the time that the fair was being built, Olmstead had to sit back and wait, with little to do until all the other building was completed. Then once everything was inally in place, only then could he finally do his job. This is extremel stressful cnsidering that everyone has very high expectations of the fair. Right now, I can completely understand the stress that he had to deal with. Although this is might also not be as comparable to The World's Fair, being stressed out last week with the opening week of the musical made it feel pretty close. I had to wait until rehearsal was over to start my homework, which meant I was doing my work at the last minute, but I was still really picky about the quality it was completed in. Olmstead is very particular in what he likes and wants to make sure everything is done right. In the simplest terms, he is a perfectionist. I relate to Olmstead in this way too. Whenever I am involved in something I submerse myself in it, and I make sure I work hard so that everything is the way it should be. Olmstead is also been so stressed that he has just been worn thin. He is so exhausted that his appearance and health are both declining becasue of it. I can also relate to feeling so tired that it is hard to stay focused, and I think in general most high school students are busy enough that they would agree. Although the age difference may be big, I can still relate to the way he feels and it makes the story that much more interesting to read.

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    3. Ladies -- I'm totally with you on this one. That poor guy had to wait and wait and wait. Other people's problems became his problems. If someone screwed up and that cost them a couple weeks of building the fair, it became his problem. If weather struck and set everything back, that became his problem too. There is nothing worse than having a TON of stuff to do and not being able to do it until everyone else has completed theirs.

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  16. I would say that I am the most like Olmstead. I don't think Im not like Holmes because he is a man that plans everything but is also very manipulative, im really bad at planning anything and I would like to say I don't manipulate people. Im not like Burnham because he is a strong leader and once again plans well. Now, what I like in planning skills or leadership potential I make up for in taking pride in what I do. I find that Olmstead is a very driven guy. He takes pride in his work and wants be validate how well he does in his profession. I'm also like this when I do something I have to do it to the best of my ability and when I don't I can tend to get upset because I feel I could have done better. I pride myself in doing my best in whatever I do. He is also a hard worker. We know that Olmstead also had a heavy workload outside of the fair but he still gets things done. I'd like to think that I am like this, even though I have times where I procrastinate, I get it done.

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  17. Like many people above, I alway find myself seeming to be a lot like Daniel Burnham. He is a straight forward man and knows what has to be done and when. He is always focused on the job at hand and knows that the whole US is counting on him to get the job done before the due date. He encounters multiple problems on the way to building the fair like weather and the poor soil. He even goes as far as to sleep in his office by the fair and away from his family which shows his determination. This is also a little like myself, when i want to complete a goal or something alog those lines. He is under extreme stress and competition when trying to finish the fair on time. I often find myself in this situation and sometimes find myself doing my best work. He is a mans man and is not afraid to tell people what to do, he also seems to be organized somewhat and knows what needs to be completed. I am also a little like this as i organize multiple things like books and clothes. He is also the easiest to relate to because he wants the biggest and best everything and who wouldnt want to be recognized for that? Exactly.

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  18. In my opinion Burnham is the guy for me. He's level headed and logical. Which are two aspects in a personality that I believe I possess. For me everything has to be done right. Like Zach I am a perfectionist. If something happens that wasn't in the original plan I get stressed. As I believe Burnham is starting to. He is stressed because everybody seems to be taking their sweet time getting their blueprints in and actually beginning the process of constructing a building. However, no matter how lazy his other architects might be Burnham strives on, in hopes of out doing Paris with his world fair. Though he thought everything was on track in the beginning it has slowly turned to chaos. Which seems to happen a lot to yours truely. I always start a project thinking I have plenty of time, but as I continue to work on it I realize that it is a lot more work then I expected. And this is what inevitabilty happened to Burnham. Though we may want everything to be perfect all the time, I have come to the realization that not everything you can do will be perfect, and this I believe is just what Burnham is starting to realize.

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    1. Oh yes, the Type A Perfectionist. There are many of you out there. It is hard - the stress you feel when something isn't going the way you planned it. Especially for Burnham since he had to rely on so many other people, and maybe those people weren't perfectionists like him... major stress. But, he had not option because he couldn't do it all himself. Although, I'm sure he wanted to try...

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  19. Despite obvious differences, I think that Daniel Burnham is one of the characters that I relate to the most. One of the most prominent ways that I connect to Burnham is the amount of determination. Once I have an idea in my head I will put in all of my time and effort to see that the project or task is completed to the best of my ability. Sometimes my determination gets me into situations that are or seem nearly impossible, many would say that Burnham got himself into a predicament like this with the World's Fair. Burnham also had great determination with his architecture and with the great task of the World's Fair. He would do whatever it took to see the image in his mind come to life. Becoming easily frustrated with missing deadlines is another way that I relate to Burnham. When I am running late or there is an obstacle in my way that may take up more time than planned, I tend to become very tense and irritated until I am back on schedule. Throughout the novel Burnham is faced with countless roadblocks that push him farther and farther behind schedule. All of these setbacks made Burnham more anxious and aggravated with the fair. Another way that I relate to Daniel Burnham is through his logic. Everything he does, he tries to think through very well and find logic in, just like me! I constantly find myself either trying to figure out how things work or making plans and schedules in my head. Whenever we go on family vacations I'm always the one to have everything planned out. When reading this book I think it would be easy to find connections with each of the characters, but I think the character I relate to the most is Burnham.

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  20. As I look at the three characters offered to relate myself with, I find that I do not really line up perfectly with any of these men. However my favorite character of this book would defiantly have to be Holmes. Out of the three characters I really do find that I can relate to him best. I love how he is a peoples person, and really studies how people behave and is really good at manipulating them into behaving the way that best suits him. I find that I also watch the way people react to things and find it really interesting. I also think it is interesting how clever he is at making money. He comes up with a scheme and is confident enough to go through with it. I think of many unethical things I could do to make money, but I would never go through with them. While Holmes not just carries them out, but when caught, he is able to charm his way out of trouble. I can relate with that, as I am usually pretty good at getting out of trouble by being very polite and charismatic.

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    1. I'm going to have to agree with Jared, I also do not see myself relating in depth to any of the three men given. Nonetheless since I have to choose, I would say that Holmes would probably be my most similiar character. Now I'm not saying I relate to him in the sense that I am a serial killer, no but rather I relate more to his charismatic personality. Holmes, I have to hand it to him, he seems like a pretty suave fellow. To his unsuspecting victim, they had just met this charismatic well-off doctor so they were doing pretty goood. Holmes understands people and knows how to manipulate them, which I can somewhat relate to because lets be honest have you ever met someone who hasn't tried to convince somone else to do something? It's sort of like human nature, and Holmes well kind of was a master. I agree wtih Jared, on how Holmes is clever about making his money and also he's pretty clever with how he spends it for example when he cons the numerous workers he hires to build his hotel. Again I feel I can relate to this because we all imagine those get rich schemes and we try to spend money wisely, now there is an extreme difference between my making money ideas and Holmes's it's still a similair principal. And like Jared had said, Holmes is able to evade trouble when he is confronted about his money schemes by being the charismatic guy that he is, I'll be honest I can relate to this in a way because I get out of trouble sometimes by being polite,charismatic, and if it needs to be done bending the truth alittle bit to my advantage, similiar to one Dr. HH Holmes .

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    2. You guys are so right. His characteristics are quite admirable. He is driven. He is smart. He is successful. He is a savvy business man. He is a people's person.
      All these things add to a very successful, wealthy person.
      That is, if you don't use these things to mindlessly kill innocent people. :) Other than the serial killer part, he is generally pretty awesome.

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  21. I kind of agree with Jared in the way that I too don't find myself lining up with any specific character. But I'm gonna take a different route than the serial killer, who has a lot more people relating to him than I would have expected. Should I be concerned? Anyway, I would like to say I relate to Burnham being the great and talented architect that he is, and I myself aspiring to become one. But he's got leadership and responsibility and one could argue that I'm somewhat lacking in those areas (if you notice the time this was posted you'll understand). Olmsted is a man who I admire. He knows landscape architecture is undermined in society, yet he continues to support and encourage the art. He shows determination in the face of opposition which is why I have a great respect for this man and always has a hidden concern about whatever is being done, which I can definitely relate to.

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  23. I feel that I most closely relate to Burnham in several ways. For one, he has to get a lot of tasks done in a short amount of time and does it as a perfectionist. This is very similar to me because I tend to procrastinate alot but I somehow manage to get everything done and do an okay job on it. I may not start everything on time, but when I really focus and am determined to get things done, I accomplish my task. Like Burnham, I have to do many things in a short amount of time but I manage to plan out what to do and get things done before the deadline. I am also like Burnham in that we are both logical thinkers. I like to plan things out accordingly rather than just jump into something. Finally, I stress out over little things like Burnham. For example, a few mistakes here and there on a paper bother me for some reason. It may not seem like much at first but when they accumulate they can have a much larger effect than one can imagine. Of course, I do not match perfectly with Burnham and I can relate to almost every character but Burnham fits me the best.

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  24. Personally, i think i relate most to Burham. But i also relate to Holmes. Burnham goes about everything very logically, and i like to think that i have a good reason behind everything i do. Like choosing not to do this blog until this late, im very rational and thinky this late at night. Burnham seems to also be easily frustrated, and consumed by the idea that everything is pressed for time. Not gonna lie, i definitely am a procrastinator, but at the same time i hate being late to anything. Five minutes early, is on time for me. But like holmes, im very methodical, and i love to people watch. Sitting at a restaurant with my family and listening to other peoples conversations is a hobby of mine. I like feeling like i know these people even though i dont. Now whether its a power thing for me i have no idea. But holmes likes to think he knows people, so that he can take their trust away and have power over them. Im also very methodical. I like to have a plan for everything. I feel like both holmes, and burnham are like this. Holmes knows how and where hes going to kill someone, and how hes going to get rid of the body and evidence. Burnham has a plan that he and everyone else working on the white city do their best to follow. At my job, i make pizzas. Sounds easy right? But i have developed a system that gets everyhing done as efficiently as possible. Without it i would be lost, just as both Burham and Holmes would be lost without their plans.

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  25. I feel like I relate to Holmes most. I've got a fascination for how things tick. I enjoy knowing about how things work and planning things out. I love how well Holmes manipulates people to get his way (Not something I relate to but it makes for an interesting read). His thought processes are interesting as well. Burham is also someone I can relate to. I've always been a logical thinker and I usually plan things out before I put them into action. Procrastination is also a big thing for me (I'm doing this so late because I got home at 11:50 from my job). One major difference between me and him, is that I don't stress over things I can't change. Burham is constantly worrying about the fair and running out of time, where as I would probably work on doing what I can do.

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  26. I relate to Burnham in the fact that he has a lot on his plate as well as the fact that he is a stong leader. While I go to school everyday just to come home and struggle to get most of my homework done before i have to go to work for four or five hours, Burnham hadto control a whole FAIR for years. Relating to Burnham isn't hard for anyone, Burnham held the most responsibility throughout the novel, having to keep track of every bit and piece of what was going on with the fair and construction of the White City. As a teenager I believe I hold a great amount of responsibility, from attempting to do all of my homework to paying bills Im responsible for, I work my butt of just like Burnham so I can try to get some sleep at the end of the day. However, I also see myself relating to Holmes, he only let's people get so close into his life before he pushes them away or kills them. I do the same, I don't hold a lot of friends, I only possess a few close ones. When others try to get to know me, I have a tendency to only let them in ny personal life so far before I no longer let them in. While Holmes doesn't really have a problem opening up to people, this is one of the ways I don't relate to him. It takes a lot for me to open up to someone and really let them in to my thoughts and such, this is probably why I'm not bursting with friendships, I just prefer to keep more to myself...Holmes also is quite a bit sketchy and tends to keep to himself. I am just like that, in most cases I prefer to work alone instead of with a partner, I also tend to be more "at home" than always out doing something, I would rather read a book in most cases. that is just the way that it is sometimes.

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  27. ok so, there are a lot of ways in which I think I am very not like Burnham and it drives me nuts that he isn't freaking out about the fact that almost nothing is going to be done on time. I would probably freak out A LOT. But on the other hand I also think that maybe I wouldn't freak out so much. If I were him I probably would want to lower my stress as much as possible and worrying about something you can't control doesn't usually help with stress. So, I guess I identify with him because he's letting the pieces fall where they may and doing the best he can while staying level-headed.

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  28. I just want to start by saying this is not a confession to any past, present, or future crimes. I have not killed anyone.
    Holmes is a creative man who plans each step of every plan before putting the plan into action. Though some of his actions may seem impulsive to some, each thought was carefully planned ahead of time. He plans each detail of every kill perfectly. The same could be said about me, but with less perfection. I frequently find myself looking at each way an event could play out, each way it could go wrong and how to avoid those undesirable effects.
    However, Holmes is different in that he remains distant from his kills. Though he enjoys hearing his victims' screams fade as their lives end, he prefers to lure his mark then kill them quickly. He still sees them as human, at least until he kills them. After their death, Holmes views the victims far more objectively, but up until their death, he continues to see them as human. On the other hand, I would much rather feel the life fade from my mark, rather than simply watch, but I suppose this differs for each person. Of course, most people are too afraid to embrace the side of themselves that enjoys others pain, so it is hard to determine the full truth of each individual's killing method...

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  29. I can mostly relate to Burnham because he is a very clever man and he has a lot on his plate. In the beginning of the story Larson goes into detail about how Burnham was raised and he had a hard time figuring out what he wanted to do with his life and he never held down a job, simply because he no longer was interested in it. This relates to me bacause I have a very hard time making up my mind and making difficult decisions. When I lose interest in someting, I dont continue on with them. As the story goes on, Burnham finally finds his groove and a lot of that has to do with his partner Root. This is like me because I am very much a people person and I rely on family and friends a lot for what my plans are. People at first underestimate Burnham and that happens a lot for me also, but as time goes on Burnham proves himself and people start to expect a lot for him and sometimes expect too much. This is me, like with my grades, my mother always expects more out of me than my older sister. I have gone through a lot of personal problems, and it has really gotten me behin on my schoolwork and work for my job. Just like Burnham with his building collapsing and everything that tries to hold him back in the story, they are just work through everything to get to the better outcome and in the end I, just like Burnham come out on top.

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