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​Its November 11^th a day to give thanks to the control so im going to take my annual trip to Philadelphia National Cemetery and pay my respect to the greatest war hero who ever lived. Julius R. Jenkins. That man was like a father to me and gave up his life for the safety and everyday I just wonder why would he do it. It Should have had been me if wasn’t for me he would be here today. Why did he choose to save me who or what did he see in me that was worth saving? I look at the name Howard Jackson I think of a worthless man who managed to destroy everything in his life. So what potential did he see upon me that was worth saving. I guess its just something I will never understand Julius so certainly one of those things. But his deaf leaves me with great regret and at the same time hope because if he believed  why can’t I learn to believe in myself. I rethink that week all the time too try to understand….

We were under heavy fire from the North Vietnamese Army and I had just knifed the chest of a enemy solider that had rushed into me. The battle had me full with so much adrenalin that I forgot the strategies that you to taught me that have so many times kept us alive through so many battles. Like the one when u said to secure every kill with a second cut to the throat to be sure that your enemy will never get up. But I didn’t instead I turned my back on him and the wounded enemy was able to draw his gun and fire.I slowly began to turn around in shock of the fate I will soon take I felt powerless and it seem as if I could not move. But then came you  jumping right in front of me  pushing both of us down to the ground. As we laid on the ground I began a sigh of relief, until I notice this blank stare in your face and you where not responding to my cries.” Ceaser Ceaser are you alright” no answer so pushed you off from the top of me and noticed you have been shot 3 times and where heavily bleeding. So I rushed you back to home base for medical attention but by time we had made It I had already lost you. From that moment in life I decided that it was time for me too change my life around. See even in the past life you are still my teacher. So for that I thank you Julius u are a true life changer

“I walked down the hall towards the board room contemplating this latest situation with the bank and the attempted robbery today.  As I though to myself, that was the second one this week, what are we going to do about this?  The bank is hemorrhaging money and I am at a loss as to why. (Look around the hall) I wonder where everyone is now, no one has been on time to a board meeting in forever and, needless to say, that doesn’t make me feel very good as a boss or an authority figure.  What’s the word…(Stops and ponders for second)  It makes me feel disrespected.  (turns toward the wall and rests his head on it)  When I think about what we could do to save this bank I draw a blank, I feel spent, I just don’t know what to do anymore.  I have asked people what they think we should do about this money situation and they just stare at me and ignore me.  (Stops and listens) What’s that noise?  (Walks down the hall)  Oh yea that’s right it’s Franks’ birthday and they’re having that party.  I wonder if i should tell him that he’s getting fired at the end of the week…(debates and struggles with himself)  No I don’t want to ruin his birthday.  The sad thing is that most of us will be fired before the month is out that was the only way to keep people from suing."

"I knocked on the door and walked in, the shareholders and investors alike were furious with my leadership, if I had know this I might have made some excuse, anything that I could have…Just to get me some more time.  To do what?  I’m not sure.  At that meeting they voted to push me out, they literally pushed me out of the bank at the end of the day.  Needless to say that was my last day working there."

"My name is Tim and that is how I lost my job, my friends, the respect of everyone I knew, and everything that I ever cared about.  That is why I sleep on the streets every night.  It has been ten years since that day.  (Man that Tim was talking to throws a couple coins into a jar beside Tim and walks away shaking his head)"

Back in the closet it’s dirty, dark, and cold. I’m all alone in this box of nothing. My time has passed and I am aging everyday. I remember when I had that new fresh clean smell, not dirty like I am now. When the white part on me wasn’t an ashy brown and black. Back then I was cool.  My family came out with something newer; I am so “yesterday” as I hear the others say. What is wrong with me? Yeah I guess I am a little beat up. What is SO wrong about that? Although I don’t like being dirty, smelly, bent all over and damaged up. I hate just sitting here! I am not cleaned anymore. Is it possible I just smell so bad that no one wants me? So maybe it’s not the way I look. Or maybe it is you, not me? There are so many possibilities. Jessica my owner, is short, red haired, and loves to play in the dirt. Why can’t she pick something cleaner? Maybe I would still be picked to wear. My name is hi- top, and I have a white base, with purple in front and red flaps in the back. I have a blue check on my sides. Oh . . . and I can’t forget about my laces! Name a color and it is on there. Maybe, just maybe I will be wanted after all. (pause) Is . . . Is she really coming my way. Jessica, is that you? I don’t have to look through that little whole anymore in this cardboard box. I think the top is finally opening. I’m soaring through the air in Jessica’s hands. OUCH! She just threw me down to the ground. Next thing I know I have the feeling of my laces being untied. Stretching my body for the first time in a while. As I “oohh”, and “ahh” I feel warm socks start to slowly slip into my open mouth. As she yanks on my tongue to try to get her foot in, it hurts a little, but I am just too happy to care. Tying the laces back up into a bow. Doubled knotted too! But then . . . I feel a pull. I feel my stitching becoming looser and looser. As her toes, slowly but shortly curl up I realize that her feet are too big for me. That happy smile I had was no longer there. A frown is starting to appear. Maybe it just seemed that way. As she gets up and starts to walk around it hurts even more. I am being pulled in every direction. I can only stretch out so much. She finally notices that I am way to small and sits down. Once she unties my laces and yanks on my tongue once again she struggles to get her foot out. She’s pulling on me in every angle and it’s hurting me, and probably her too. After pulling and stretching me in every way possible Jessica’s foot finally comes out. I get put into that hard annoying cardboard box, again. Then getting picked up and not sure where I am going? Why not into the closet? Isn’t that where I live? KABOOM. I get thrown into this white thing. It smells a little funky. Definitely not my closet, or any closet! I see a big clear carton, which has 4 spaced out shapes across the top. But what I really want to know is, where am I? What am I doing here? And most importantly why? 

Curtis Jones jr. represents me because I live in the fourth district, he is also the person who drafted and sponsored the “Growing Greener” movement that has made Philadelphia cleaner in projects dealing with parks and recreational things. My representative Mr. Jones is not just interested cleaning parks and recreational places but he also is big into other stuff like transportation and public utilities. He has interests that are lengthily and important to keeping Philly a good city. According to this site from the Philadelphia city council, Curtis Jones jr. is a member of a broad number of topics that he fights for everyday. What Mr. Jones and I both have in common is the interest of parks, recreation, the disabled and the handicapped, the environment and a working knowledge of housing and the homeless. From all that I have read I can tell that the councilman really loves Philadelphia and really does want to change it for the better.

More sources

More sources

I am lobbying for the clean up of all Philadelphia parks. Parks get dirty, it is what they do but within that dirt is glass and cigarette buds from careless, thoughtless people, this is harmful to children when they play on it and it is unacceptable. My motivation for this project was my recent visit to the doctors office to get a tetanus booster when I cut my hand on rusted metal when I was in a park local to my house. According to this site, everybody in the city council was up for helping the “green” plan, which included open spaces i.e., parks so he had no opposition in getting support. The city council of Philadelphia has made this into a resolution that has already gotten funding to make it happen.

​  I am a member of the 8^th district in Philadelphia and I am represented by Congressman Chaka Fattah. Congressman Chaka Fattah attended Overbrook High School where he graduated from and then went on to the Community College of Philadelphia and then the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government where he later received his MGA in the year 1986. Fattah has been a member of the Pennsylvania HOR for 5 years and he has served as the State Senator for 6.

Congressman Chaka Fattah supports many things and has sponsored 6 Bills that all support a different thing but when looking through all of the things Chaka Fattah has supported I see that he is all about children and equality

When it comes to the topic of the electoral college Congressman Chaka Fattah was one of the co-supporters in the Bill H.J.RES.36: “Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to abolish the Electoral College and provide for the direct election of the President and Vice President by the popular vote of all citizens of the United States regardless of place of reside”

When it comes to things we have in common there isn’t much between Chaka Fattah and myself. We both went to schools in the Philadelphia School District, we share the same religion which is a Baptist Christian and we are both democrats that reside in the city of Philadelphia.

 Sources:

http://fattah.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=18

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/bills.php?cycle=2012&cid=N00001746&type=I&spon_type=sponsor&cong=112

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaka_Fattah 

                                                Life as a Slacker

 

     I am so tired. I have an English and History project to due by tomorrow morning. There is no way I am going to get all this work done in time. I don’t know how I have gone this whole year without doing enough work to be able to graduate. Hmmm, well, maybe, just maybe, I have just been slacking off a little bit. I haven’t been motivated to do any work.

    I want to be there, at graduation, not watching the other students, but being apart of it. I really do. It is 1:00 am and I haven’t completed any of the projects. I can’t go into school tomorrow without them if I want to move forward with my goals for life.

      I might as well get started. I could always just drop out of school, even though I want to get a high school diploma. Why don’t I just start? What is the English project again? Oh yeah, the paper about that book that we were reading in class. What is wrong with me? Just start.

      My eyelids are starting to get heavier and heavier. I don’t see these projects getting done any time soon. Let me just start to write, I am not sure whether what I am writing makes any sense but I am writing. The clock says 2:30. Whew, I just finished writing the English paper.

              Ahhhhh…..Drifting off…

   I see myself walking into school without my projects. I see other kids laughing at me, pointing at me. I see teachers asking me “why?” That’s when I hear yelling coming from outside of my door. I wake up and hear my mom yelling. “I know you’re still awake in there, your light is still on. Go to sleep!” I slowly lift up my head and hear my mom walking back down the stairs.

      I need to get back to work. I realize that in a couple of hours I am going to have to go to school and hand in my projects. Or what there is of my projects.

     How did it get to this point? Why do I have to do homework? I don’t quite see the reason for homework in general. What purpose could it possibly serve? Is it to make up for the lack of learning in the classroom? Is it that the school year is not long enough, or is it simply to keep us from having fun when we get home? Maybe it is none of the above; all I know is that it is something that I don’t enjoy. Argh, isn’t life supposed to be about enjoyment?  But, I really don’t want to go to summer school! Back to work!

      I can do this. Onto my history project. American history. How hard could that be? I am American after all. Hmmm. It’s supposed to be about World War 2. I know about that, my grandfather fought in that war. He told me all about it when I visited him in Florida. It was fascinating to hear his stories. I particularly remember the one where he flew a plane for 45 hours to avoid enemy territory. This is great. I could write about this forever because I love this subject. It is both fascinating and intriguing. It touches something deep inside of me. Wow, this is great.

    I will finish my projects. I will graduate. I will get my diploma. Hell, I might even go to college.

           

                   “Here they come! Everyone hide! The police is here!” They screamed while I was recollecting all the junk from the tables of that restaurant. “¡Virgen santísima!” I screamed. I remember myself hiding under the table I was cleaning. I tried to hide as much as possible. Silent, I saw people getting arrested by the police officers. They were screaming, crying, begging. “¡No me lleves! ¡No me quiero ir!”  Those people who wanted the ‘’American Dream’’ like me, begged. Poor fellows. They cautioned me about this. I knew this was going to happen. The police would come one day looking for the immigrants. But thank God I practiced a little bit what to do when that situation came, and at least it helped me. I did not get caught.

 

                     While waiting for the police to leave… I felt like all my dreams got broken in one minute. After that horrible moment, I realized I do not want to live another moment like this one ever again. This whole situation about hiding from the government it’s not as easy as it may seem. Now the confusion starts. I don’t know what to do. I remember I was born in the deserts of México, where my dad had to wake up every single morning, put his clothes on, and go to the farm to start working. After hours of hard work, he came home to eat some Tamales and that was it. Saw my family suffering from economical problems my entire life. They had to work every day for long hours to get some money to feed five kids for two days approximately. I remember when my mom gave me her food because it was not enough. Oh dad, I remember you coming home all sweaty, dirty, and tired. While other people in other places without working and without moving one finger, had more money and food than what we had in three weeks. I was the oldest of my other four siblings. Even though I do not have an education because my family never had the resources to send me to school, I consider myself more educated and smarter than a lot of people who attend school. That’s why I decided to move on and do something for my family. I remember that Saturday. When I packed all my things up and finally did it. Crossed the border from Mexico to United States without finding death. I guess I was so lucky no one caught me.

 

                  Now I am here, without anyone beside me. Trying to find myself in this unknown place. Seeing a lot of different people dressing up, talking and acting in a very weird way. Women dress up almost showing her body, and men decorate their bodies with piercings almost everywhere. The funniest thing is that no one seems like caring about that. “Where are you from?” some ask me. “¿Qué?” I answer. Then I realize they are speaking English. I do not know the language. How will I survive like this? I remember when I used to say: “Nothing will stop me. I will look for a job. That is how I will start. It will not be easy, but I will do it”. “Maybe I will have to hide from the police, but not for my entire life because I will become a citizen. Some people have come here and now they have money and the life they dreamed of. So I guess I will be pretty good…”

 

                    Who am I trying to fool? Right now I feel so lonely, sad, and depressed. When I remember those hard times at México, I get weaker instead of getting stronger. I miss my Mexican culture. I never thought living here would be like this. Here everything is just so different. I am not used to this. It’s hard surviving in here. I can’t communicate with anyone. This is not what I expected. Where is ‘’The American Dream’’ I was looking for? Where is the money I want? It was just a fantasy, rumors people say. What am I supposed to do now? Go back to México, or stay here? This is so confusing. They all say love is louder than pressure. But, is it louder than the pressure of trying to help your family with their economical problems? A pressure you had since you were a kid. Is it louder than having no food, clothes, or money?

 

                     It’s hard being in this situation right now. Where all you know is that your body is in Los Ángeles, California… but your heart is in a little farm at Zacatecas, México.

 

 

- Sería muy enojado con mi primo y me enfrentaría con Susana.

 

- No haría decir nada a Susana, Yo no me gustaría Susana mucho.

 

- Diría a Pedro que él no necisita una chica muy mala como Susana y su primo es muy estupido.

 

- No sería ayudar. No es mi problema.

 

- No es mi problema. Recomendaría a buscar para una chica nueva y no hable con su primo o Susana.

 

- Yo, en su lugar sería más enojado con mi primo como Susana.

 

- Mataría los dos personas! 

I live in the 2nd District and it is represented by Anna C. Verna. Anna Verna made history in 1999, she was the first woman to achieve council presidency in philadelphia's 300 years history. Verna was born on April 15, 1931. She joined City Council in 1975. She represents the 2nd district which covers most of South Philadelphia and western end of Center City. Verna has been a strong supporter of the tax reform and has fought for affordable housing in various parts of her district. From 1991-1998 she was the Chair of the Finance Committee, She was trying to restore fiscal stability when philadelphia was on a edge to bankruptcy. Not only she was a great supporter in the tax reform but she also fought crime. President Verna successfully fought for 6 billion dollars in funding in the city's operating budget for an additional 100 police officers and has been a strong supporter of curfew center.  President Verna has made the renovation of housing stock in neighborhoods and affordable housing a top priority. She has worked with many community-based organizations to build hundreds of affordable homes throughout the Second Council District and was honored by the Pennsylvania Association of Non-Profit Homes for the Aging as their statewide “Public Official of the Year” for her work in providing affordable housing for senior citizens.

The Good Friends have created their second promo video. Watch to find out what the show is going to be about and when the first episode will air. Don't forget to check out our Twitter at @TheGoodFriends and to e-mail us for more information. 

     Description:
          Humus is a kind of dip for pita bread, it's pretty bitter, although can be made to taste more like garlic depending on how much you add.

     Ingredients:
          1 can of chick peas,
          1/4 of a jar of tahini (essentially sesame seed oil),
          1 cup of lemon juice,
          1 teaspoon of garlic,
          1/2 teaspoon of salt & pepper,
          & Pita Bread

     Instructions:
          Optional) Prep chick peas, you can buy them pre-prepped however this is unnecessary.
          1) Pour all the ingredients into a blender.
          2) Blend until humus is the texture you want (normally creamy with clumps in it).
          3) Taste and add more garlic, salt, pepper, or lemon juice at your discretion.

     Conclusion & Analysis:
          Humus is really very cheap an quick dip to make. It's not really a full meal but goes well with pita bread or other Arab dips, like tableau or  baba ghanoush. It's also quite healthy, not so much in having a lot of nutrition it's really too simple for that, but in the fact that it has (or if you make it yourself has) virtually no calories even in bulk. I can't really recommend it with other foods that aren't themselves Arab because the flavor is a little exotic. Even if your used to American humus, you probably won't recognize this humus because it's bitter, and lacks the excessive garlic most American humus uses. The authentic humus definitely an acquired taste.

Click here for my awesome benchmark!

Reflection
I chose this bill because I saw that it was passed very quickly and I thought that it would make for an interesting topic but I also saw that it had a then and now focus because it was made into a law in 1996 but Obama brought it up during his presidency to discuss and argue about. I chose the particular presentation format of a wiki because I was familiar on how to work it and how to make it click out to different pages when the hyperlink was clicked. In wiki I chose a notebook format because I thought it would be ironic with a laptop school and an online project in a "notebook." Some of the challenges for this project was time management and internal destruction. I was so over whelmed with the first quarter and not getting all my benchmarks at the same time, that my planning for doing the benchmark was way off my original plan. My internal destruction was myself telling me it had to be better so do not turn it in yet and my forgetfulness in that the project flew out of my mind. If I were to do this project again I would defiantly make the poem longer and put it on a different site where instead of entire pages dedicated to a couple explanatory sentences I could have little blocks like the comment stickie on googledocs pop up. My research told me that getting a bill to become law can go either way in getting there fast or slow and it all depends on the biase of the Congress people. I can not say that the research was hard but at the same time I can not say that it was easy, somewhere in between is where I stand.

​Jason Davis

Court Case

11/8

US. Vs Jones argues whether the use of a GPS tracking device without a warrant on a respondents vehicle to monitor it's movements is constitutional. The amendment argued in this case is the 4th.The FBI placed a GPS device on a suspect's car -- a Jeep belonging to D.C. nightclub owner Antoine Jones -- and used it to track the car for a month, without a warrant. (In fact, a federal judge had authorized the use of the GPS device, but the device wasn't installed until a day after the warrant expired.)

The placement of the GPS e system is the result of an ongoing case dating back to 2008, where Jones was convicted to life in prison for conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine and 50 or more grams of cocaine base.The D.C. court of appeals then overturned the ruling, saying that it violated his 4th amendment rights. The case is now being argued in the supreme court because the D.C. courts claim Jones had no fourth amendment rights after being convicted. 

On Tuesday November 8th, the case was argued in front of the Supreme Court. Midway through the case, Justice John G Roberts stated that such a right may exist, which may trump the fact that it was in public. In this case, the latest in a continuing series in which the Court examines potential constitutional limits on police use of new technology, the federal government is relying very heavily upon the fact that the GPS technology it wants to use is carried out only when the cars or trucks to which such a device is attached are going from place to place on public streets or highways.

Su nombre es Josh Ritter. Tiene treinta y tres años. Es de Idaho pero vivo en Pennsylvania. Él mucho gusta cantar y practicar música. Él es alto y musical. No le gusta nada aburrido.

Su nombre es Lebron James. El Es de Cleveland pero vive en Miami. El Es deportista y alt@. El Es tambien trabajador[a]. El Le encanta practicar deportes y trabajar. El Le encanta tambien correr y bailar. El No le gusta nada leer y dibujar.

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In my district, Councilman Brian O'Neill represents me and my district (district 10). My legislator hasn't voted in the past because it has not come up yet. 

Brian O'Neill is a Republican Council man who represents the 10th, and only the 10th district of Philadelphia. He was born on December 23, 1949 (making him 62 years old). O'Neill acquainted the "Philadelphia blunt ban," which bans any item that suggest the seller to be doing drugs. This bill (No. 060345) was "adopted and signed by the mayor." This bill included the ban of feather hair clips, which could be used to hold a roach (the small end of a blunt) to smoke marijuanna from. He's been serving since 1980. 

O'Neill went  to Saint Joe's University and graduated from Widener University School of Law. Brian was very much interested in Politics and he is a Chairman of the Board of The Public Technology Institute . He is also chairs the Northeast Airport Advisory Council. He's very much involved within his district and makes sure that things are going over smoothly. 

https://sites.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/don-t-have-a-cow-vote-by-mail/home 

my part: https://sites.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/don-t-have-a-cow-vote-by-mail/deliverables 

​

• How did you group go about making a decision for what to focus on for the project?
  My group & I made the decision to focus on main in voting. We decided that that was the best option to get more people to vote.
• 11th grade Essential ? - What is the role of the individual in creating and sustaining change? 
  to make others change you have to show that your willing to. you have to show that change is possible to make change
  
  
• How has your understanding of the electoral process and whether or not the US is a democracy evolved during this unit?
  i went from not really caring at all and knowing the bare minimum to now understanding how it functions and the major flaws in our voting system big one being the number of people that vote
• How did you decide to best relay a message to a national audience with your marketing campaign?
  we tried relating to the audience and tried to show that we understood that they have lives. we had nice and relaxing ads to show we care about their comfort

My motivation is reading on Facebook so many of the kids in my neighborhood's statuses about going out to kegs in the woods, at the "Halloween Spot," which is basically an area on the train tracks behind the local cemetery. I feel as if the legal drinking age was lowered, the teens in my neighborhood wouldn't go out and drink in dangerous places because they needed to hide from adults and police. They could drink in the safety of a friend's house or even at their own, where there could be much less a risk of getting physically hurt. If the drinking age was lowered, adults would be able to moderate their teen's drinking, if they were to drink, so they wouldn't over do it and wind up harming their selves.  

Se llama Drake
le encanta cantar es muy talentoso
que no le gusta nada correr
le encanta escuchar musica
es muy muy guapo

Se nombre es Alex Pettyfer. 
El es muy guapo y bastante alto.
Tenga vienti uno años, sin embargo muy intelligente. 
El es adorable y talentos.

​The Supreme Case I was assigned was Perry V. New Hampshire

The situation behind this case is that in an apartment building there was a hijacker that had been robbing cars for a while and one night an elderly woman looked outside of her window and saw a black man standing between cars talking to a police officer in the parking lot. The elderly woman, when questioned told police that he had been the man breaking into cars at night, when the elderly woman was asked to identify the man from an array of photos she could not do so and the only problem the Court agreed to look over was whether or not the absence of any police manipulation of that witness was reliable enough to bring before the jury to be used against the conviction of Barion Perry. 

The constitutional question in plain English  is “In a case should a court be required to exclude eyewitness identification evidence whenever the identification was made under circumstances that make the identification unreliable?”

            The Constitutional Provision involved in my case is The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Which states that “No State shall ... deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” U.S. CONST. amend. XIV, § 1.

The Fourteenth Amendment is applicable to unreliable eyewitness identifications regardless of whether the identification was orchestrated by the police.

After the case was argued The Supreme Court decided that it wasn’t their job or place to decide whether or not the evidence in the case should be used and that the decision of permissible evidence would be left up to the jury. The conviction of Barion Perry still hasn’t been decided mainly because of the evidence debate. 

I’m not to sure how to predict the outcome of this case because it could go in either direction. I personally don’t believe this evidence should

Be used against Perry because I feel like the evidence is unreliable. The witness didn’t see Perry take anything and she was not able to identify him when she was asked. The conclusion of this case is strictly dependant upon the jury so at this point and time this could end either way.