Winter Break

Over winter break I will be traveling from Seattle to Miami, Florida. Over the night I will be staying at a hotel waiting to embark from a port for a cruise. On the giant ship my family, grandparents and cousins will enjoy our 7 day stay in the Caribbean Sea. For 5 days we will be journeying from Mayan ruins, to scuba diving in the calm waters, then to zip lining over forests, and finally arriving in Grand Cayman to snorkel with marine life. After all these days I will come back to Olympia to sleep at home, along with snowboarding during the week.

Poetry out loud

I chose The Arrow and the Song by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as my poem. The meaning of the poem is about the similarities of arrows and songs and how they effect people. Both things can hurt, sadden, or entertain people. When you hear a good song, it can hit you like an arrow.

To convey the meaning, I will pause at parts of the poem and emphasize others. It was written to show people music and change people. Songs and arrows can both be changed for different people.

Poetry out loud

Part 1:  1: I, Too by Langston Hughes
             2: Richard Cory by Edwin Arlington Robinson
             3: The Star by Ann Taylor
             4: The Arrow and the Song by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow          Chord by Stuart Dybek

Part 2:     Richard Cory and Arrow and the Song because they tell the best story.
               The Star because it is a song.
               Richard Cory.
               It sounds like life stories I have heard about how money can't buy you happiness.

Part 3:   Level of difficulty and Understanding because the poem is easy to understand and is not short.
              Dramatic Appropriateness and Physical Presence because I don't like speaking in front of class.

Part 4:  Jackson Hille. It was successful because he had good posture and good voice.
           Kareem Sayegh. It was successful because he had good pace and shifts.

Part 5:   The competition will be easy. I think I'll do good. Richard Cory by Edwin Robinson. It tells a good story. The website has a lot of poems.

Nature and self-reliance

After reading "Nature" and "Self-Reliance" I concluded that "Self-Reliance" had more meaning to my life. Emerson's work in "Self-Reliance" makes me think of how people should live their lives. If all people everywhere thought of working for themselves they could live a more fulfilled life. My parents always taught me to live my life this way.

Without people living with self-reliance, they would not be able to live their lives. And if some people only lived for the rest of us, we would all be the same. In the quote "Imitation is suicide" people should learn that they should live their lives.

Essay Writing

In freshman and sophomore year, I learned to write 5 part paragraphs.  The paragraphs helped me learn how to write longer and more detailed essays. Almost every book we read as a class, we had to write a specific essay about something about the book. Writing about the books helped me learn that while you are reading a book, you need to think of how characters and the plot changes throughout.

I have never liked writing but I am able to because I have written them and practiced. The skills needed are only to have thoughts about what you are writing about. If you come up with ideas, you can use them to write an essay. It only takes practice to understand language, topic order, and other things needed to make a good essay.

Trial Injustice

In Holland, Geert Wilders, a Dutch member of the parliament, said his trial was unfair. He said that from the beginning the court had prejudice against his statements. His statements were against Islam and the place of Muslims in European society. He said that the judge's rulings were against Wilders because of his statements.

This is like the Salem Witch Trials because the judge, Danforth, only went with what he thought was right. They did not look at the evidence but instead looked at the actions of the people. Danforth saw what Abigail and the girls were doing. The judge saw what Wilders said.

The Crucible

In The Crucible, some of the girls follow Abigail even though they don't want to. Abigail tells the girls what is happening and what they should do. Instead of telling the adults that Abigail is lying, they go on with the story. Abigail commands them to follow her even though she also knows it is wrong.

In my life, I have been told to do what others said. Even if i didn't want to, I did because they said it was fine to do it. At the time I thought it was the right thing to do because I did not know better. Now I can look back and say that I shouldn't have done it.

Introduction

       America is supposed to be the land of hope and dreams. To be an American means we are supposed to be dreamers. But to be American means you are supposed to have opportunities and hopes that get you everything you can want. Americans are told that they can be anything they want as long as they want to be it since that is how America is supposed to be.

       Common goals and dreams of Americans are to be heros. Americans are supposed to be the best and that is the dreams of Americans. Stereotypes of Americans are fat and lazy. Americans are wasteful but that is only a few Americans, most are good people who are good.

       Positive viewpoints on Americans is that they are hardworking and go for the best. It is great to be an American because people hate us which means they want to be American. It is better to say you are American than most other countries.