In honor of the play tryouts for Anastasia, it seemed only fitting to discuss some of the grand duchess Anastasia’s story and the conspiracy theories behind it. Anastasia Nikolaevna was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas ll. She had three older sisters and a younger brother. A revolution was overtaking Russia in the late 1910s and the Bulsheviks were calling the shots (literally). On July 17, 1918 the royal family was brought down to the cellar and then a firing squad shot them all. However, this is the part of the story when conspiracy theorists take control. Bodies were never immediately found after the family was executed. This led people to believe that not all of the family members had died, specifically, Anastasia. For years, people thought the duchess was still alive and there were in fact people that claimed to be Anastasia. The false claims only fueled the conspiracy theories. In 2007 the graves of the family were found and DNA was tested to prove that they were all shot during the execution. To this day, people still believe the conspiracy theorists and think that the DNA was faked.

Conspiracy theories are heard very often and are sometimes completely implausible, although some actually get people to stop and think. Some conspiracy theories are largely known and are usually connected to the deaths of famous people. Some of those deaths include, the JFK assassination or even the unfortunate accident that killed Princess Diana. A sad majority of the population on the earth today believe that even the Holocaust was faked. Same with the moon landing. Conspiracy theorists have no boundaries and will go to the extremes to convince people that they are the ones that are right. I personally believe that there is more to JFK's assassination than we know. What are some conspiracy theories that you might believe in or some theories that you completely oppose? If none come to mind, make up your own conspiracy theory and see if anyone agrees with you. Make sure you provide some facts and ideas that back up these theories.

When commenting on other people’s comments, discuss whether you agree or disagree and add your own reasoning behind it.

Robyn Chaffin

Janessa
​For those of us in Business Math, this week we've been given the Red Paperclip assignment, based on Kyle MacDonald's 2005 trading journey from a paper clip to a house. And for those who aren't in business math, I'm sure you've seen the shenanigans and insistent "Wanna trade?" 's coming from other students. MacDonald and his trading gained a lot of traction on the Internet during his adventure and in the years following, and his story is still well-known and used as an example for others today. In 2007, Bell Park in Kipling installed the world's largest (at the time) paperclip as a sculpture monument in his honor, and he gave a TEDx talk in 2015. This guy got pretty famous. And there have been crazier stories that make people well-known: all the 'Florida Man' headlines, the "catch me outside girl", the floss/backpack kid, all the people whose faces were used as meme templates, Philippe Petite​ walked across a tightrope in 1974 between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, people on "My Strange Addictions", Guinness World Record holders; any number of things. So my question for this week is, what would you want to be famous for?

Being known and established in Hollywood would be an awesome achievement, and not only for me, because then my old classmates and childhood friends from little ol' Salmon could have the privilege of saying they grew up with me and they 'know' me. If I was famous in Hollywood or on Broadway, I think my favorite part would be giving out my autograph. But being this type of "big" famous would be overwhelming- too many people would know who I am. I think I would want to have my name recognized for something weirder, like eating the most chicken nuggets in a minute (it's 16), or for the longest sung note held while doing jumping jacks. The appeal to me of holding a world record would be the ability to say I had done something no other person had done before. Of course, valiant or noble actions would be a good reason to become famous. Promoting good causes, making  significant developments in conservation, health care, or human services, saving a puppy from a tree- all good things.


When you make your responses on others' posts, also say what you think they would most likely become famous for, or what they are famous for right now in school or the community.