In "The Taming of the Shrew," we see example of how love and marriage was in early Italy. In the book, Petruchio indirectly abused Katherine to try and gain her love. He said that by denying her of certain things he could "tame" her to make her love him. In the movie, "Madea's Family Reunion," a woman named Lisa is in an abusive relationship with a man named Carlos. The movie is a modern version of how this relationship between Petruchio and Katherine could have possibly ended.

Petruchio and Carlos are similar in the way they treat women. The only difference is their reasons and methods. In the book, Petruchio marries Katherine as part of a master plan. Katherine is referred to as a shrew, which is usually used to describe someone who is mean and/or annoying. Petruchio's answer to this, which he states in the book, is that he will deprive her of things such as food and sleep to tame her to love him. Carlos', in the movie, physically abuses Lisa to keep her from leaving. These texts reflect that the relationship between men and women throughout the years has not changed, and that it may have gotten worse, because of the extent that abuse has grown.

In the movie and the book, women are physically abused by men to try to make women love them. In “Madea’s Family Reunion” Lisa is in an abusive relationship which she tries to get out of many times. One scene in the movie shows her try to escape. She grabs some clothes and when she is about to leave, Carlos grabs her and threatens to throw her out of their apartment window if she tries to leave again. Carlos threatens to kill her if she leaves him, so he would be the only one to benefit from such a situation.

In both the movie and the book, the families of the women are unsupportive, but the family in “The Taming of the Shrew” couldn't be culturally, and the family in the movie weren't, because they wanted Carlos and Lisa to get married for money. When Lisa confesses to Victoria, her mom, about what has been happening. This is what her mother says:

Lisa: He hits me.

Victoria: When?

Lisa: Often.

Victoria: Well, you must stop doing what you're doing to make him angry.

Lisa: What?

Victoria: Women sometimes have to deal with things to be comfortable.

In the time period of “The Taming of the Shrew,” it was expected that women dedicate themselves to whom they are married to. Divorce was not a possibility, so as much as abuse was probably looked down upon, there was no way to stop it.

Bartle is a character in a book called “The Things they Carried,” a book that I wouldn’t read for another 6 years. One event in the story was him having to shoot up a car even though he didn’t want to. Not to compare my actions to shooting up a car, or anything else for that matter, but to me, it conflicted my “morals” in a similar way that the event conflicted his.

It is always nice waking up at ten in the morning. I would have been late for school if it wasn’t for winter vacation. I was in the 4th or 5th grade. We were going to New York for Christmas, I couldn’t wait for it. It was originally meant to be a surprise, but I figured it out a few days before. I had been in New York, but never really as a vacation. Everything was already packed, I already knew what I wanted to do when we got there, I was just happy to get away from normal life for awhile. I could have had a nice vacation, but I hated my teachers and they hated me. For my Christmas and going away gift from them to me, they decided it would be best to give me a pink slip. It didn’t mean that I was fired from school, it was there way of basically saying “You should know better, give this to your parents.” I was always a straight A student. I always did my homework and always did the best on tests. I just didn’t like them and they knew it. I don’t know why they would give me a pink slip, they always did it, but I wasn’t sure why.

We left for New York on a train, it took years to get there, but somehow we made it there just before noon. We got off the train, walked up a lot of steps, and then we were in Grand Central Station in New York. It was annoying, everybody was walking like they were late, the unintentional pushing and shoving that they were probably use to. It would have been fun to start kicking people in the shins, but that wouldn’t have helped anyone. We walked outside of the station, it was supposed to be cold, but somehow I felt the warmth of everyone walking by, it was weird. I didn’t know where we were going, nobody really told me, but it was really nice to look at all the tall buildings. We walked around for awhile, then we got to our hotel that we were staying in. It was in Time Square, from our room, we got to see the giant displays from the windows. We weren’t there for long though, we left out later to get dinner. My sister always made things interesting, because of her allergies, we usually had to do some extra searching to make sure that her need were accommodated. It wasn’t a bad thing though, and the search turned into an I-Spy game through the crowd to find a place she could eat at. After we found food for her, we went to Roxy’s. I had a burger (this was back before my vegetarian days) and then an oreo cheesecake. After that we walked some, we went to the Nintendo Store and the M&M store. We got back to our hotel at around 9, we unpacked and then went to sleep.

I never actually went to sleep though, I just stayed up and watched the repeating commercials flashing on the giant screens outside the window. The fact that I had a pink slip was getting to me for some reason. It wasn’t rare for me, they were always stapled into my journal so I couldn’t forget. It’s just that in this instance, I had hid it under my bed, I didn’t really expect anyone would see it in my room, no one was home. This is an event similar to what Bartle went through. A person might say “You didn’t have to hide it.” But I did, it’s not that I wanted to just ignore it or maybe I did, and I had eventually told her after vacation, I just wanted to to leave that back and home for when we came back. I had brought my Nintendo, but I never played it, knowing that I probably shouldn’t. To me, it was interesting how much I was thinking about it, but I normally think a lot. I think that it was more of the feeling of not telling my mom. If I would have told her before or during our vacation, everything would have been different.

Video: https://www.wevideo.com/hub/#media/ci/561928006

Math worksheets, take-home reading, and essays are all popular forms of homework in many schools. These kinds of homework can either be helpful or not, depending of the student. The effects of homework can stick with us for a while if we learn anything from it, however it could just be taking up time if it is not the “right kind,” which all depends on the student’s preference.

Homework is very important, because of how many skills it teaches students such as time management, work ethic, and many kinds of interactions between peers, parents and the teachers. Based on Dr. Joyce Epstein, an expert in sociology, “[Homework] Builds student responsibility, perseverance, time management, self-confidence and feelings of accomplishment; develops and recognizes students’ diverse talents and skills that may not be taught in school.” Overall homework appears to have the effect of making a person better at many academic and work related traits.This is one of the things that Dr. Epstein says homework helps improve. Along with the previously listed benefits, doing homework can have more. Homework has shown to have many non-academic purposes or uses: “Indeed, some primary-level teachers may assign homework for such benefits, which include learning the importance of responsibility, managing time, developing study habits, and staying with a task until it is completed.” Many other teachers and/or experts appear to have similar input on the importance of homework. Homework can helps people academically and mentally, as well as socially when collaborating with others, but that’s not always the case.

Homework may not be as helpful as originally thought, or as intended to be, based on the conclusions found by some experts and student. Some believe that there is no importance to homework, although homework is believed to help people with nonacademic skills, there is no actual proof of this. “Finally, there isn't a shred of evidence to support the folk wisdom that homework provides nonacademic benefits at any age -- for example, that it builds character, promotes self-discipline, or teaches good work habits.” This is what Alfie Kohn, an American author and lecturer in areas of education and learning, said in his article addressing the “outdated habit” of homework. This counter-argument is important in showing how not everybody thinks of homework the same. The purpose of homework may not be as crucial as we thought or as our teachers told us.

The importance of homework is highly debatable as long as their is someone that doesn’t want to do it. There are people saying that it is good for academic purposes, nonacademic purposes, or just that it’s just not helpful at all. One thing that is proven is that the amount and the type of homework can affect how a student can benefit from it, although one factor that hasn’t been considered, is the actual student. Different students benefit from different kinds of homework. The variables that would be included in making homework for an individual student are too complicated for a teacher to have to do. Depending on the background of a student's life, homework may have different effects on them. “Some researchers believe that students from higher-income homes have more resources (such as computers) and receive more assistance with homework, while low-income students may have fewer resources and less assistance and are therefore less likely to complete the homework and reap any related benefits.” (McDermott, Goldmen and Varenne 1984; Scott-Jones 1984.) As stated in the quote, even income affects the will to learn, as well as its importance. On the same site, it also states that the stereotype of Asian people being smart.  “A national study of the influence of homework on student grades across five ethnic groups found that homework had a stronger impact on Asian American students than on students of other ethnicities.” Because of all these variables, there may always be students that don’t “match” the homework assigned. The way that it seems, the way a student sees homework can be affected by: income, race, gender and age.

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Works Cited!

• "Resources / Recursos." CESDP. 2002. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://www.cesdp.nmhu.edu/toolkit/enhancing-student-learning/purposes-benefits-of-homework.asp>.

• Bishop, John. "View a Plan." HotChalk Lesson Plans Page. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://lessonplanspage.com/OSS10BenefitsOfHomework512.htm/>.

• Kohn, Alfie. "Homework: No Proven Benefits." Edutopia. 19 Oct. 2006. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://www.edutopia.org/no-proven-benefits>.

• Fuglei, Monica. "The Homework Debate: How Homework Benefits Students." Concordia Portland Online. 21 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/news/the-homework-debate-benefits-of-homework/>.

• "What Research Says about the Value of Homework: At a Glance." What Research Says about the Value of Homework: At a Glance. 5 Feb. 2007. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Instruction/What-research-says-about-the-value-of-homework-At-a-glance>.

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​In class we learned about how Climate Change affects people in different places along with the meeting that go on to find ways to stop global warming. Through this project Jelani and I (Antonio) talked to the readers/listeners as different people, and a polar bear, to try to convey the importance of global warming by showing how it affects others in a way that many people can understand and might be familiar with.

George H.W. Bush

(Sitting in desk-chair talking to camera crew)

Ah, I remember when I went to Brazil for that meeting, the uh, Jane what was the meeting I went to back in 92’.... yeah I know it was a climate summit, but what was the name of it...oh. So apparently it was just called an Earth summit and it was about the uh...Jane? What was it...oh, thanks, the Forests of the Future initiative. It was nice to fly to Brazil, I even remember when me and some of my acquaintances stopped by and heard some person ranting on about some Tupac tree or something, it was hilarious to watch, but anyway the meeting. It wasn’t anything special, it was just a meeting unlike that meeting in Panama that one time, they wouldn’t even let me speak, was I not aloud to or somethin’. Well what I am trying to say is Americans need to watch their...uh...consumption of stuff...what do you mean I can’t just say stuff….oh so I have to be more specific, ok ok. SO, America it is up to us to change this world whi-….what do you mean we can’t change the world, is that what you tell your kids….yes I know I can continue talking, thank you. Ok you know what, lets do the whole thing over.

So America, we are all away of the hot topic called Global Warming (leans back and talks to boom operator) see what I did there I used “hot” and “warming” hehe, oh what do you mean it’s not funny, your acting like this is a serious problem. Anyway as you know America we have the power to stop the progression of Climate Change, but only by working together. We have to stop relying on the hazardous things we use now, and we should start considering new energy sources such as earth, wind and fire (leans back again) see what I did there, Earth Wind and Fire is the name of a band (faces forward again). These new ideas can be put into motion by replacing the cars we use now with solar or electric powered cars, the old cars can be sold for scrap and, or recycled to make new cars. Ok Neil do you have everything for your project, good so there is no reason that you shouldn’t get an “A” on this assignment right son? Ok and by the way what did you mean when you said you got allllll of it, hey don’t up and leave like that.

Polar Bear:

(Walking along ice field)

Another night interrupted by part of my home crashing into the blue. Everyday my home seems to get smaller and smaller. There is nothing I can do to stop this, the warming of my home. My home has been changed by the people who visit here. This began long before I was born. The ice everywhere has been melting and I have been seeing camps pop up occasionally. I have also seen great ships pass through the land cutting through it like it was air. I rarely see anybody else around, there seem to be so few of us left.

(Jumps into water/ swimming away from iceberg)

The land isn’t frozen  like it used to be. There is barely any land left to live on, I always have to swim somewhere. The bigger lands that are still frozen are very far apart, but that is where the people sometimes set up camps. Sometimes I see the people walking around digging in the ice and then going back inside. I always wondered what they were doing. Anyway I hope I can find another ice-ber-...what is that sound? It’s almost like a high pitched screech.

(Dives head under-water)

(Sigh )

It seems the orcas found me again. I hope I can swim back and climb up the ice before they move-in. It looks like it is about 4 or 5 of them, but they look like they are just following me.

(Whale rams underside of bear)

There's nothing that I can do but keep swimming, if I stop to fight, they will just pull me under. Almost there, but the whale is turning back around

(Gets front to feet on ice)

(Whale bites hind leg and slowly starts to pull him in)

(Lets go of ice and slashes at nose of whale)

*Ugh* I made it...I can’t move my leg, I can’t swim if I can’t move my leg, I can’t eat if I can’t swim, and I can’t survive if I can’t eat…

Person Commenting on Barack Obama

So I mean Barack…..  I guess Obama…. is the President of the United States... of the thing we call our country America. You know Obama right? for him to not solve a problem is very critical for all of us. Bruh... President Obama did not show up for a National Worldwide Meeting...let the man enjoy his breakfast and his helicopter probably ran out of fuel you know with him saving the world and everything he finally took a break but you know bruh it’s no days off so you gotta you know reverse time and go back to that meeting and you know attend it because climate and other things environmental worldwide stuff is actually you know pretty important right? If I was the one who could answer that question it wouldn’t be important it’d be pretty unimportant if it was up to me you know other things obama has helped on war is it just pretty/  because he was probably busy handling other things toward helping the world. He was sent a message by  the minister to approach the problem for the call of that meeting ,but President Obama did respond to the problem and it was handles/solved as he said he would do towards the problem. President Obama also made an announcement for the world about the price range for army weapons because it’s more important about the soldiers and troops health then them killing each other. The U.S was called out by China,Asia because the U.S owes China over a Trillion Dollars! Also we’re not in that type of money zone right now to pay China back. Everytime the tax  imports money from our bank accounts and hard our hard earned money some stuff always happens because it’s stolen from us and was never given back. Yup, I guess thats all for today, or for the rest of my life, I mean I wanna thank ya’ll for listening for-real for-real like you feel me or naw?

P.S: Yall suck

Nature Enthusiast:

You know, first off, I just wanna say, OMG, I love them Kapok trees! They are one of my favorite trees in the world because one, I love rain forests, (oh yeah the Kapok Tree located in a rainforest, a freakin Rain forest!) It is such an important part of the rainforest because the best looking tree in the world is the Kapok Tree in the rain forest! Also if you say Kapok Tree you’re exercising your mouth muscles. Come on say it with me KAPOK TREE see that was great wasn’t it (total silence) yeah I bet it was! You know why? Because we’re thinking about the freakin Kapok Tree! (No one paying attention). I just wanna thank you for listening or were you all being idiots and not listening to the good ole Kapok Trees. So let me ask you a question, if you still care: why are you cuttin down my friends. These trees are helping us and the ecosystem, they are THE center(z) of the forest. They are the Washington D.Cs of the United States...es. Would you cut down the White House if it was a tree, NO…. well maybe, (under his breath) knowing you guys. SO (claps hands once) “Ceiba Pentandra,” come try to say it (waves at crowd)...no let the “a” drag: draa….draaaa, Pentandraaaa. This is the scientific name for the Kapok tree, you guys know about science right, I’m sure you know the science behind cuttin down trees and, burnen’ forests and, destroying habitats, but do ya’ll care. Nawwwwwww, you just gotta have your land, cut down “their” homes to make yours, who is them? You know, the animals yall claim to be separate from, your cuttin down their homes for what, FOR what? Ok so you, no don’t crouch down, you what did you say (puts hand to ear and leans over stage) it was fun, ok, ya’ll heard that? (Sarcastic Voice) Johnny Appleseed over here said it was fun, ok...ok (rubs hands together) so, tomorrow night, WHEN, yeah WHEN, I come to your house with a chainsaw, (giggles) hehe, ok, hehehe, ok, ok, will that be fun? No? Come on say it louder, it won’t be? Ok then. So you know what, I’m gonna just stop myself here, cause I don’t wanna make anyone feel bad so goodnight, follow me on Twitter @killmytreeikillyou, so see yall later.

P.S. Trees Hate You

Intriguing Science Fair-Project:

DNA Construction Project

Inquiry:

I had wanted to know what DNA was made of.

Research:

I recorded info on a Google Doc.

Collaboration:

I was part of a team.

Presentation:

My presentation was colorful.

Reflection:

I would have worked with a partner.

What Is The Fur Industry?

In my previous post I talked about mostly statistics of the Fur Industry, but I never really said what it is. In this post I hope to give you a better explanation of what the Fur Industry is:

Fur Industry/Fur Trade/Fur Exchange:

The trade or selling of any kind of fur from any kind of animal.

The Fur Industry was originally called the Fur Trade which began about 300 years ago, in the early days of the country when it actually helped established the country. The Indians traded fur from animals such as beaver (which the Europeans made their hats out of) for tools and weapons. As the 1500’s came about, Europe began to develop a certain fondness for fur, this led to the Indians searching for other sources of fur which include fox, otter and mink. When Samuel de Champlain set up a fur post in Quebec, Canada, it became the “hub” for the fur trade in North America.

A recent survey that I set up was sent to my peers to measure the amount that people knew about the fur industry. The chart to the left shows that the majority of people I asked knew what the Fur Industry. But when I asked if anyone wanted of owned fur items, the responses became a little more mixed. This graph shows the responses when I asked if anyone owned fur items, as you can see more than half of the people weren't even aware if they owned something with fur.

Since I interviewed teens, this helps show me how their thoughts on fur trade may evolve as they grow older and learn more about the topic. My understanding is that enough people aren’t aware of my topic and need to be informed about it. My opinion about the Fur Industry is that although it helped develop our country, has gone too far. Due to over-hunting many animals have been hunted to endangerment or even extinction. One of these was the Caspian Tiger (to the left.) They went extinct due to mass extermination by the Russian government when they wanted the land that the tigers lived on in the cotton fields, the last of the tigers were hunted for their fur by trophy hunters. On the right is a picture of Benjamin, the last Tasmanian Tiger who died in 1938 in a zoo. They were blamed and killed by many farmers for eating their livestock, which was actually encouraged, and Van Dieman’s Land Company (a textile company) helped destroy the rest of their population.

After all this I am still curious as to how the governments (of different places) decides when “enough is enough” when animals are becoming endangered due to the fur industry and even other problems like pollution, hunting, habitat destruction, etc. I also want to know what plans are being created and are already in motion to protect the animals facing all of these problems.

For my next blog post I am going to be informing my peers at school and through social media resources (Facebook, Twitter) about the Fur Trade.

Here is my bibliography.

The Fur Industry

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress

can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”   

— Mahatma Gandhi

Hello, my name is Antonio Flores, I am in 9th grade at Science Leadership Academy. I chose to research the Fur Industry for a project called You and the World for English. The Fur Industry is a well known issue in today’s society. The Fur Industry uses the fur and skin of different animals to create clothing items for people. Many people including me are against this because it results in the deaths of many animals that could then become endangered. I chose this issue because I love animals. I think that it is strange how people can wear the skin of animals and not think about all that it went through. I oppose people who wear fur coats. This is some of the information that I put together and it is also something that you should know.

The most spent on fur in the United States was 1.82 million dollars in 2005. However in 2002 the world total of money spent on fur was around 11 billion dollars. Hong Kong is the biggest producer of fur in the world, it annually imports $320 million worth of fur. Around 1 billion animals are killed annually for their fur, with about 80% of them being rabbits.

When people feel that anti-fur trade groups aren’t working, they may become animal rights extremists. The animal rights activists/extremists have gotten 92% of Americans to not agree with them, but disapprove their methods and to get them to look at what they are doing instead of why they are doing it, creating a greater divide between our current situation and a solution. Crimes of animal rights activists have been added to the same category as “from hate-filled white supremacists…to highly destructive eco-terrorists…to violence-prone anti-government extremists…to radical separatist groups” as stated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. People have been taking actions through revenge of the animals, possibly without knowing how it could damage what they stand for.

While researching I came up with some questions. I want to know how many people are against fur-trade and how it correlates to the amount of people who own a fur accessory. I also want to know other reasons why people buy fur accessories besides how “it’s warm.” I also want to know the best sites to go to, to find more helpful information. I hope to learn the answer to them.

I hope to learn more about the fur trade. I think that it is sad how 1 billion animals are killed because of their fur. I am surprised that animal rights activists are so violent to get their point across, or to take avenge animals. I want to know who to go to and what to mention in my next blogs.

Here is my Bibliography.