For the Macbeth creative we had to take the Q1 benchmark and make a different creative piece that shows the characters change.

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After turning in our 1st benchmark about Macbeth, we had to make a creative representation of that project. I chose to make a keynote about the project, here it is:

The second quarter benchmark was to write a vignette about one of our past experiences, and use various writing elements such as magic 3, and symbolism. Here is my project:

I have always been amazed by my travels, seeing things like the Eiffel Tower and the Pantheon. I however, had no idea that something natural could be more spectacular than anything man made. For the past 4 years I went to the Schuychill environmental center to go to summer camp. Every week we would go on a camping trip somewhere in the US. We went to places like the Pine Barrens, Assateague, and Allaire state park[SA1] . These trips were fun, but the places that really stood out to me were the White Mountains and North Carolina.

In North Carolina our camp learned how people got food before they domesticated animals and made farms. I learned how to whittle knives out of wood, I went fishing and I learned about edible plants that you could find in the wild[SA2] . What really stood out to me on this trip was a night hike we went on. We were in a national park so there was hardly any light pollution, and the stars were bright and numerous. A little bit into the hike we saw a spider web[SA3] . When most people think of spider webs, they think of it as creepy and want to destroy it. What they don’t think about are the countless hours the spider put into making this web. First, it makes several lines of web between two objects and then slowly spirals its way in. This spider web I saw was spanned across the entire trail and was perfect in every detail. If you looked closely (which isn’t an easy thing to do considering it was pitch black out) you could see that every little section of the web was tiny, the perfect trap for insects. No one beside the spider could have made anything so perfectly. Compared to something as simple as a spider web, all of man’s achievements are nothing. The Pantheon? Nothing; The Louvre? Nothing;. The Arc de Triomphe? Nothing.[SA4]  I find natural things to be more incredible than something artificial. Nothing made by a person could ever be as intricate as a living creature. We couldn’t make anything as big as a mountain, or as powerful as star. [SA5] Anything we can do is nothing compared to the scale to which nature can do it. Seeing the spider web also made me sad, because sometime in the next few days, someone will come along and destroy it. It wouldn’t really matter whether it was on purpose or by accident. That seemed to me as a perfect metaphor as to what mankind is doing to Earth. We take some natural and unspoiled area and ruin it by either polluting it or building something on it. After marveling at the web for a few minutes we decided to head back to camp. Along the way I looked up, and the stars, coupled with the darkness and the trees gave me a sense of how incredible our world is.[SA6]  We’re the perfect distance from the sun, and an incredibly unlikely series of events occurred to make life possible on the planet. What I felt at that moment is impossible to describe. It made me think and I realized that the world cannot be changed by an individual. We still obliviously cut down forests and build ugly suburbs; we still burn millions of tons of coal a year, and we still don’t change.[SA7] 

            The other trip that stood out to me was when I went up to the White Mountains in New Hampshire. The highlight of that trip was going to be summiting Mt. Washington. The first few days of the trip the other campers and I went rock climbing near Mt. Washington. After a short hike, we got to the rock wall. Rock climbing was a lot of fun, and in my opinion, a lot more fun than watching TV, or playing video games. The next day we started the hike. We had packed the day before with clothes, sheets, and other things we might need on the two day hike[SA8] , and set out early in the morning. At first the hike was steep and rocky, and I thought, “There’s no way I can do this.” But as I got going I got used to it. About three hours into the hike we were about to leave the forest and start actually going up the mountain. When we got above the tree line we turned around and I saw the most incredible view of my life, an extensive forest beneath us and the rest of the White Mountains in the distance. As I kept going up the steep and rocky trail, I kept turning around and each time the view was better than before. After a few more hours of this, we got to the ridge between two mountains, Mt. Washington, and Mt. Monroe. Even though we all wanted to summit that day, we knew it would be late soon, so we followed the original plan and went to the “Lake of the Clouds” hut to spend the night. After an hour’s hike we got to the hut and it was late in the afternoon. We got there tired and happy and found ourselves to be the only kids there. All the people there were experienced hikers and were amazed to see us. That night there was a meteor shower and there wasn’t any light pollution, or even clouds for that matter. Fifteen other people and I just lay down on top of the rocks and watched, not caring for how freezing cold it was, even though it was summer. The next day when we were hiking up the final trail, we were really excited to be almost there. Finally reaching the top, however, was different from what I had expected. First, there was the huge sense of achievement that comes with summiting a mountain, which to me was more gratifying than any thing else that had ever happened to me. But the summit itself was disappointing. It was basically a big parking lot with some buildings. It doesn’t matter where the space is, because human nature makes us build there. Whether it’s the top of a mountain or in a canyon. Nature is most influential when it comes to advancing in technology. The robotic eye is being made to recognize things the same way as the human brain does. Batteries are being revolutionized by a design that nature created. Almost all of our research is devoted to understanding nature. If we keep destroying the areas untouched by humans, we won’t have anything to learn from. Rare plants would be lost that could have been the cure for cancer, or a new way to get fuel. I wasn’t sure what I was hoping for at the summit, but a parking lot wasn’t it. I felt that views like we could see from the summit should be earned, and you shouldn’t be allowed to just drive up. But it didn’t matter, because I was still happy to be there. The way down was as incredible as the way up, but not quite as difficult. When we finally reached the bottom I looked at what I had just done and thought, “There’s no way I just did that.” All in all, it was one of the best experiences of my life.

 

 

I feel like my portfolio as a ninth grade English student really shows how much I’ve changed and grown throughout this year. When someone looks at my portfolio, I want them to see an honest, young, girl who changed and grew for the better throughout her year at Science Leadership Academy. I want it to be clear that I care about my work, and I would hope that my thoughts and honesty come through in this portfolio.

            My strengths in English are my vocabulary for one. I love to read, and I have always read at higher reading levels than normal for my age. I have acquired a great vocabulary and this always comes in handy in My English classes. Another thing about me is that I am very descriptive and honest in my writing, and I want to do something with journalism when I get older so I think that writing in general is a skill I have.

            This portfolio was hard for me to make because I was out of school for most of the first and second quarter this school year with mono. The only problems I encountered were having to rewrite large parts of my papers that I’d been able to shorten before, and editing a lot of half written journal entries.

             I think the work that I am most proud of is the work that I did towards the end of this year because that is the work I tried the hardest on. My book reflection on “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” is one of those pieces, and I loved that book as well.

The third Benchmark was for the book The Odyssey, we had to write an essay comparing a character from the Odyssey with a character from another author or movie.

 

Jessica Maiorano

Penelope & Bella Comparison Essay

3^rd Quarter English Benchmark

March 11, 2011

 

Most people understand or know the feeling of being depressed or abandoned by someone they love. Two girls, Bella and Penelope know that feeling very well. You can get lonely staying away from someone you are really attached to. Bella from the movie twilight is in love with a vampire named Edward. This made things difficult for her. Penelope from the Odyssey is in love with her husband who has been gone for 20 years. What should these girls do? Even though Bella and Penelope’s reuniting with their men was different, their paths were very similar.

 

Bella and Penelope were both left by their men but the way they got back together was very different. When Odysseus comes back to Ithaca he is not himself.  Odysseus stays disguised as a beggar until the battle between him and the suitors is over. He reveals himself to Penelope but she doesn’t believe him.  Odysseus discusses this with his son Telemachus. “Now because I am filthy wear such grimy rags She spurns me – your mother still can’t bring herself to believe I am her husband” (Page 459, book 23, line 130-133) this shows that Penelope is independent and wants proof herself. Mean while Bella is jumping off a cliff because Edward Is gone thinking it will bring him back. Then she goes after him when he was going to expose himself. That shows that Bella is dependent on Edward. Contrasting, Penelope handled the situation better then Bella.

 

Being abandoned by your husband or boyfriend for a long period of time hurts.

Penelope and Bella both felt the same when they were. Bella went into zombie mode for months while Edward was gone. She didn’t want to go out with her friends anymore, cried. Penelope kept going back to her room and crying. They both were not themselves. Having this feeling will make anyone’s life different or difficult no matter what the situation is just like Bella and Penelope.

 

Both characters were depressed about the situation and found a way to stall. Penelope drops hint to the suitors and saying she misses her husband but went along with everything that was happening. This quote from the book shows that she was just going along with everything  “Dangling promises, dropping hints to each – but all the while someone else is mind."(Book 2, lines 99-100) The quote from the Odyssey says that she is now feeling alone even though she says that she is going to marry one of the suitors. Also she weaves a web to stall also. Bella hung out with Jake when Edward wasn’t there but tried to find way to get to him, which was her way of dropping hints. They both have someone that wants to replace their loves. Bella has Jake like the same as Penelope she has the suitors that want her. Whether or not they want to be with them they are trying to take them from their men.

 

All and all they have walked similar paths. Even though the paths are the same the ending can be totally different. Penelope is independent and mischievous while Odysseus is away for twenty years.  Her idea of weaving a web kept her from answering to the proposals that were being constantly thrown at her. Waiting for her husband, not doing anything to get him. Penelope gets her love back in the end. For Bella however, seeks Edward out in her hallucinations of him as a way to cope with the Cullens’ departure.  She does reckless things to be with Edward in her hallucinations like cliff diving.  Doing that eventually reunites her to Edward.  These characters from to different books all of the four characters are trying to get their love.

Our 3rd benchmark was to write a compare/contrast essay comparing Odysseus from the Odyssey, and Everett from the movie "O brother where art thou?" Here is the project:

Everett Odysseus compare contrast

            In the Odyssey, Odysseus, the Greek hero, has a 10 year journey home where he undergoes many trials and challenges. In the movie O brother where art thou, Everett, the main character, has to go through similar challenges to Odysseus. Despite Odysseus being a hero, Everett had characteristics that in some ways made him more heroic than Odysseus.

            Both Odysseus and Everett had very similar stories in their journey home. This is because the movie O brother where art thou was based off of the Odyssey. Both Everett and Odysseus faced many of the same problems, such as the Sirens, and the Cyclops Polyphemus. For example, Odysseus had over 100 suitors courting his wife because they thought he was dead. Everett also had a suitor, but there was only one. Another example of this was changing the Sirens, who were women who would lure sailors to them by singing. The movie changed them to women who sang and seduced Everett and his men and took in Pete, one of the crew, for the bail. A third example was the Cyclops Polyphemus. He was changed into a large bible salesman with an eye patch, who robbed Everett and his men. While Everett and Odysseus had similar things happen to them, they didn’t always act the same way, or get the same end result because, even though they were similar in many ways, they were different people. Odysseus would sometimes look for only the fighting way through, whereas Everett might seek to trick someone, or escape the problem altogether.

Odysseus was mainly known for being two things, clever, and a hero, but he was also very prideful and vain. During the Trojan War, he fought with the Greeks for 10 years. At the end of the 10^th year, he had the idea for the Trojan horse. The idea was to build a massive wooden horse, and have the best Greek warriors go inside it. They would act like it was a gift saying that they surrendered. Then the Trojans would take it inside the castle, and when it was night, the Greeks would leave the horse and attack Troy from the inside. It worked and that was how the Greeks defeated Troy. Another example of Odysseus being clever was when he was captured by the Cyclops. He got him drunk, and when the Cyclops fell asleep, he stabbed him in the eye. The next day, because the Cyclops was blind, Odysseus and his men were able to escape underneath sheep as the sheep left to go out into the field. But Odysseus can also be vain and prideful. For example, when he escaped from the Cyclops, he yelled out “Cyclops, if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so – say Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out your eye, Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca!” (Book 9, lines 558 – 562), so the Cyclops would know who blinded him, and he would get credit for it. But the Cyclops throws a boulder at the ship, because he heard where it was from Odysseus’s voice, and then knowing his name, was able to curse Odysseus, and ask Poseidon to make Odysseus’s journey home as difficult as possible.

            Everett, like Odysseus was also vain. When they were escaping from a burning barn, he wanted to make a detour so he could get his hair gel. This would have gotten him killed, but his crew convinced him not to. This shows that even though he could be stubborn, he could also be convinced to do something. He also liked to show that he was smart by using big words in every sentence. He was also somewhat humble, because he could admit a mistake, and at one point in the film, asked his crew for forgiveness, whereas Odysseus never did.

            Everett and Odysseus had many similarities. For example, they both were “smart” and were known for it. They were also both vain, and always tried to make themselves look better whenever possible, whatever the cost. They also had many differences. Odysseus was much more of a “fighting” person, and always wanted to solve problems with a sword. An example of this was when he tried to fight Scylla, who was immortal. “But now I cleared my mind of Circe’s orders – cramping my style, urging me not to arm at all.” (Book 12, lines 45 – 46), he went up on deck with his some of his crew, and lost his 6 best men. Other than that, he almost always “won” his fights, like when he went past the sirens he chose to listen to them while his crew tied him to the mast, and put wax in their ears. “They bound me hand and foot in the tight ship – erect at the mast block” (Book 12, lines 194-195). Everett, on the other hand, would usually be on the losing side of fights. When he met the Sirens, Pete was captured. When he met the Cyclops, he was robbed. Everett was also much more humble than Odysseus. Odysseus may have shown some remorse occasionally, but he never actually apologized for anything he did wrong. When Everett told Pete and Delmar that he had lied about the treasure, he apologized, showing that he could be humble.

            While Odysseus may have been a hero, Everett, the protagonist in the film O brother where art thou, was in some ways more heroic than Odysseus. Though Odysseus and Everett were proud people, Everett could be humble, and admit his mistakes. Though Odysseus and Everett were both vain, Everett could be convinced that there were things more important than himself. Though Odysseus and Everett were both the leaders in their respective groups, Everett cared more about his men, whereas Odysseus would recklessly answer to any challenge, no matter the harm to his men. In all, any humility and being humble could make someone greater than any hero who was proud and self-centered.

Reflection      


 Throughout the school I have tried my hardest and worked to the best of my ability to do well in school, especially when it comes to English. English class involves a lot of writing and thinking which is what you need to type a well-presented paper. The work that you represents me as a writers, maybe not a very good one but, someone who puts forth an effect to complete a well challenging task.

           

Some things that I feel are my weaknesses in English are my spelling, I can’t spell to save my life. When writing, I could type for hours if it’s an interesting top I’m writing about, but when it comes down to revising it I find many errors in my writing. Especially when using the right form of the word, such as their, they’re and their also than and then. These are just a few things I need to work on so when I enter 10^th grade I’ll be on point with my word context.

 

I’m proud of myself looking back on my work throughout the year. I feel accomplished with all the hard work I put into my portfolio. A few things I struggled on are finishing assignments last minute and just completing my work the day it’s due. It’s usually because other assignments from other classes I’d be forced on more because they would be due first. Juggling task from other classes is a major thing I need to work on for the new school year.  Another thing I had a hard time with was gathering information or coming up with information to write about in the papers for my portfolio. It very hard because after all ideas and details I’d put it the paper, I’d see that it wasn’t enough to fit the requirements of whatever the assigned pages were.

My piece I am most proud of is my vignette, in that assignment I felt as though I got to express myself because our stories we writing had to be about something that happened to you or your family. Such as a special event, vacation or even your family itself. In that piece I talk about how it was living in my household and compared my family to a family portrait, wishing that would be my everyday life, my family being as happy as in a family portrait.

Introduction: This project is based off the playbook Macbeth, which was assigned to read for English class. For the project, our job was to chose a character, 10 quotes and explain how that person changes throughout the story.

 

Victoria Odom

Macbeth Benchmark

Thesis: Lady Macbeth stands her ground as a strong woman who is willing to do anything to get what she wants, but in the end her guilty conscience gets the best of her, leaving her with the wrong act of suicide.

 

In Act 1 Scene 5, Lady Macbeth discovers a letter from Macbeth that he we will soon be promoted as the Thane Of Cawdor and later reign as King.   Since Duncan is still King, and is staying the night at Macbeth’s castle, Lady Macbeth confronts Macbeth on a plan to killing Duncan in his sleep.  She states in Act 1 Scene 5 Lines 64-65, “Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t”.  What she means is be a gentle person show no fear, emotion, or signs of murder.  Although she is excited that the King is coming to stay, she hides that eagerness of her husband Macbeth becoming King.  In the quote she is talking to Macbeth and telling him to do this also, she wants there to be no suspicion of them being the murders behind this death, hoping for this to be a perfect kill.

 

In Act 1 Scene 7, Macbeth is having seconds thoughts on killing Duncan and is a bit scared of the outcome.  He is still wondering on whether or not to go through with the plan, but Lady Macbeth questions him and makes him want to change his mind. She says in Act 1 Scene 7 Lines 39-41, “Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valor as thou art in desire?”.  What she is asking him is, is he afraid to act the way he desires.  She questions him on if he is afraid to do want he feels he needs to do, but she uses seduction to convince him to stick to the plan. 

 

In the beginning of Act 2 Scene 2 Macbeth is on his way to killing Duncan while Lady Macbeth awaits for the conclusion of it being done.  Within this Act and Scene, Lines 10-12 Lady Macbeth says “Th’ attempt, and not the deed, confounds us. Hark! I laid their daggers ready – he could not miss ’em”.  What this means is Lady Macbeth is anxious and can’t wait for the murder to be done with. She is waiting and waiting and wants to know what’s taking Macbeth so long but, when she final hears the good news she is filled with relief.  This indicates that Lady Macbeth is willing to do anything to get what she wants and stop at nothing to make sure that happens. 

 

In the middle of Act 2 Scene 2 Macbeth is going crazy and starts to feels guilty about killing Duncan.  He starts to regret it and wish it never happened but, Lady Macbeth says in Line 37 “These deeds must not be thought. After these ways; so, it will make us mad.” She tells Macbeth that thinking that way is wrong and if he continues on this path he’ll go insane.  Lady Macbeth is now starting to take command and shows that she now has power.

 

In Act 3 Scene 2 Lady Macbeth starts to get worried and feels regret of what has been done, although she was the one telling Macbeth to man up and feel no guilt.

Macbeth starts to keep to himself and tells Lady Macbeth that he’s been thinking a lot and having nightmares about the night of the murder. Lady Macbeth states in Lines 12-13 “Things without all remedy should be without regard. What’s done is done.” What she means is what is done can’t be fixed so stop giving it a second thoughts.  She wants Macbeth to stay focused with his role as King and stay on path with his power in command.

 

In Act 3 Scene 4 Macbeth is at the banquet dinner with all the other Lords.  Before the dinner he sends out murders to go and kill Banquo but, during the dinner Macbeth starts to have illusions and see ghosts of Banquo. This makes him seem as if he’s crazy and talk out loud let the ghost is really there.  Lady Macbeth watches as this happens and talks to the Lords and tries to play it off.  As she shows the Lords out the door she says to Macbeth “You lack the reason of all sleep”, Line 142, she starts to give up and lose that willingful power.  She’s telling Macbeth to go to bed because she knows he is tired, she also feels tired too. Tired of the lies and worries, and so she starts to die off and lose that empowering control.

 

In the beginning of Act 5 Scene 1 the doctor and gentlewoman are in the hall, and are talking about Lady Macbeth and her continuous sleepwalking.  The gentlewoman says in Lines 28-29 “It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus washing her hands”.  What she means is that she’s been seeing Lady Macbeth do this a lot lately for many minutes at a time. What she doesn’t know is that what Lady Macbeth is doing, is replaying that moment in time where she was washing the blood from her hands from the murder of King Duncan. Lady Macbeth has let all this go to her head and this guilt she is holding in making her go insane and feeling she has done wrong.

 

 

In the middle Act 5 Scene 1 the doctor and gentlewoman are still discussing Lady Macbeth and her sleepwalking.  They observe the things she says and does, and soon they find out that her and Macbeth were the masked murders behind this killing of Duncan.  As Lady Macbeth is walking she says in Lines 50-51 “Here’s the smell of blood still.  All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hands”. What she means is in her mind the smell of blood still lies on her hands, and nothing no perfume or cleaning can make it go away. Again she feels this guilt inside of her and its eating her alive. 

 

 

At the end of Act 5 Scene 1 the doctor and gentlewoman are still listening and watching Lady Macbeth sleepwalk and soon are on their way to bed.  Before they go off, the doctor says to the gentlewoman in Lines 58-60 “I have known those which have walked in their sleep who have died holily in their beds”. What he means is he doesn’t know vary much of this disease but those he’s known who have done it weren’t guilty of anything.  Although, Lady Macbeth is spilling the beans about the murder in her sleep these truthful words warn the doctor and gentlewoman about what Lady Macbeth might do next.

 

In Act 5 Scene 8 the battle is on for the taking of thrown, now that everybody knows that Macbeth is the murder behind Duncan’s death.  Before the battle beginning news is brought to Macbeth that Lady Macbeth is dead but, really shows no emotion of this terrible news. Macduff enters the castle and slays Macbeth leaving him with nothing.  At the end of the battle Malcolm states in Lines 70-71 “Of this dead butcher and his friend like queen who, as ‘tis thought, by self and violent hands took off her life”. This indicates Lady Macbeth took her own life because of all the guilt tearing her apart.

 

In conclusion, Lady Macbeth has definitely changed throughout the play.  At first she was excited and happy her husband was becoming King.  She was also hoping to be satisfied with the murder of Duncan and felt that she had some say and power in the decisions made.  As time moved on she started to feel guilty and less and less powerful while her husband was king.  Then she started sleepwalking and having nightmares about the day of the murder. Finally the day or a few hours before the big battle Lady Macbeth took her own life because she good no longer take the guilty conscience in her head.

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction: This benchmark was to write about a special moment in your life and describe it with stylistic devices, such as magic 3, dialogue, and similes.

 

Red Stream

Victoria Odom

Family Portrait

 

            Families aren’t always what they look like in family photos. (opener) I guess, “I’m blessed to even have a family”(dialogue) as my mom would say, but sometimes it doesn’t feel like that. I remember the first time my family and I went to take our first family photo. My mom was looking in the car mirror trying to get her hair the way she wanted it, my dad still inside trying to figure out what to wear, and my little brother crying for a reason of which I don’t remember, we all were excited to get our picture taken. (magic 3) As my dad entered the car, a few minutes later we pulled off and were set out for reaching our destination. 

Arriving at the photo shop within 30 minutes, we all hopped out the car, as my mom unstrapped my brother from his car seat.  (magic 3)  While we entered the building, I discovered that we weren’t the only family getting our picture taken today. Minute after minute after minute (rep 4 effect) went by, and finally it was our turn under the camera light. The cameraman, whose name was so hard to pronounce I couldn’t remember it, told us to sit, positioned us all in an appropriate angle, and told us to smile. I smiled wide and proudly as if I was a superhero in a comic book, that had just saved the day. (simile)With all the positioning just right the camera man kindly said “ 1…2…3…smile”. (dialogue) He took a few photos so when it came time to selecting the best ones we had a variety of them to choose from. My family and I left the photo shop with great excitement, so when the pictures were delivered to my house and the photos were hung on the wall, we had some sort of happy memory to look back on in the near future.

            By the time the weekend was over I was so ready to go back to school, at that age you think school is cool and learning was something you’d be interested in the rest of your life. Back then I had already gotten tired of people pronouncing my last name as if it was “O your dumb”. (dialogue) Coming home from elementary school that day I heard strange voices I wasn’t expecting to hear after a good day of learning. “Its your fault its all your fault” (dialogue) words that never seemed to make sense to me at such a young age, were all part of a puzzle I’ve always been hoping to but together.  The voice came from upstairs, I walked into the kitchen as if I didn’t know what was going on, although I could still hear the arguing. Being young then, it was hard to understand why my parents were always mad at each other one minute then loving and caring the next. I guessed that’s what real love was all about, and you just had to except the similarities and differences of each others’ open-minded company, and if you didn’t like it then leaving was the only other option.

I always thought my parents would end up in divorce, with my brother and I juggling from place to place to go to one parent to the next.  Especially since on our last family vacation, filled with great joy and amusement, my dad didn’t join us. Before we left for the vacation I ask my dad “Why aren’t you coming with us?” (dialogue)he responded ask your mother, and indeed I did. As I walked to my parents’ room to find my mom still packing her things. She seemed pissed but I still intended to ask her “Mom”(dialogue) as every average American girl called their mother, “Do you know why dad isn’t coming on vacation with us?”, “He’s mad at me I guess” (dialogue) replying with an irritated voice. She started mumbling under her breath, I got tired of listening to my mom’s complaining similar to what I heard on a daily basis, so I left and waited with my brother down stairs in the living room. Over all the vacation was great with splashes, laughter, food and fun but I wish we could of spent it as a whole family.

If I was to really think hard about it seems to me that they fight over about the any and everything, especially when it comes down to money, bills, and sometimes even me and my brother. That’s what hurts the most, sometimes I think we’re the cause of the problem, between my brothers reckless behavior and my so called nasty attitudes, it’s easy to believe that’s why they argue, but harder to imagine.(magic 3)

The arguing is mind blowing, it’s hard to study or even complete homework with all that noise. It’s not always the arguing though, I would say sometimes its not that at all, I’d say its mainly the yelling, screaming, and complaining at me. (magic 3) This gives me major headache, along with the fact my brother’s room is literally right next to mine. He’s always gaming, and talking on the phone, he talks on the phone more then a female does. Although there’d be nothing for a 7^th grade middle schooler to talk about, he indeed spends hours in conversation. The vent from his room is connected directly next to mine, so it’s as if he’s in the same room as me. I’ll tell him to “Shut up”(dialogue), that just results to me yelling “Shut the hell up!”(dialogue) but still that butthead continues to disrespect my elderly authority.

My life isn’t what I want it to be but it does have its happy sides, like good family outings. It’s always fun then, spending time together, having a good laugh, and just chilling. (magic 3) Quality time together seems to be the best time I enjoy with my family, even if they’re a pain, but overall it’s better then not having a family at all.  My parents are still together, for now anyway, but sometimes I wish living in a house with them was a great happy feeling as you see in a family portrait.