I believe that the Patriot Act is something that is beneficial for our world today. It is just a matter of conscience if we think that it invades our privacy. We somewhat have to take into account, which we would like more for our lives: privacy or security.

            Personally, I value the safety and security of my life over the privacy I can have. What people don’t know doesn’t hurt them. If we went our whole lives without knowing what the government could do, then we wouldn’t even know that our privacy was being violated!

            Obviously, that wouldn’t be an issue if we all lived in a world where everyone respected other peoples’ privacy. However, that’s where security comes into play. If we are “invading” the privacy of the citizens, that is a way that the government can ensure the safety of the people, also, ensure the safety of the ones they affect. If one person is considered a criminal, then the government has a right to patrol their actions to certify and monitor their doings to safeguard the country for a potential threat. It’s only right.

            The Patriot Act definitely has its advantages and disadvantages. Many people may disagree with what it does for them and us, but they don’t know that it could be protecting them from dangerous prospects. Safety over privacy should not be something that calls for a lot of consideration and thinking over. It should be instinct that we want to continue to survive and want to make sure we’re as safe as possible.

At first, Enemy of the State didn’t seem like it was going to be a movie that I liked. I don’t like politics, much less get it, so it didn’t seem appealing to me. However, when we stopped it in class it left me wanting to know more. With that, it left me thinking about the questions that we were given.

Personally, I think our government is okay. I don’t think that they should be in other people’s business when they shouldn’t be, but I can’t do anything about that. They might have good intentions, which is nice, but when they act on those intents, they may end up doing more bad than good; and its all about other people’s perspectives. In the film, the government is crazy. They’re so invasive, and they’ll do whatever it takes to get what they want done. This is all in Hollywood, so obviously its over-dramatized. Though, this is probably what our government does, I’d like to think it isn’t as drastic as this. In class I described it as, “scary.” It really is frightening to think that we are allowing other people to view our every move and observe our daily routines that are supposed to be private to us. But, you have to remember that it is a movie, and it could totally be not like that at all. (Hopefully.)

Will Smith’s character was really good. I think that when Reynolds’ men targeted him, it was meant to seem very extreme and serious. When the gang of bad guys “robbed” Dean’s house I thought that that was very clever because it just made it look like it was just a robbery, and not like the house got bugged and the lines got tapped. Even if it was clever it was still an invasion of his privacy. Not only was Reynolds invading people’s privacies, but Dean and Brill got a little snooping done on their own. In cahoots, they both were eavesdropping in on the congressman, or senator, or whatever he was. They found out his secrets, were able to blackmail him, and then get to Reynolds that way… Or at least that’s what I think happened? Also, Brill on his own did some digging on that one mob boss to give to Rachel to give to Dean to blackmail the mob guy. Afterwards, when Dean’s world went into shambles, he wanted to find out who Brill was, even though Rachel told him not to pursue it.

My opinion on the government having my personal information and having access to it is that I don’t want to introduce myself, and them to be like, “Oh, Catherine, it’s so nice to see you… How’s your little brother? Is your dad still working at the restaurant? Is your shoe size a 6.5 now?” Like, that’s creepy. I’m aware that the government has tabs on a lot of people. I’m not a criminal, not a celebrity. I’m just an average citizen so it would seem odd that they’re doing extra surveillance on an ordinary person.

If it’s an issue of a matter that involves the life or death of, like, 7 entire states, I’m pretty sure that the government should have access to certain individuals’ private lives if there are suspicions that they’re behind it. But, if it’s like a firefighter who accidentally messed up on his taxes, then no, because that pretty ridiculous. It really just depends on the circumstances of each person and on the situation.

All in all, these were my opinions on the movie Enemy of the State. I enjoyed the movie as one I would watch for entertainment, as well as to gain knowledge and insight on the Patriot Act we’re studying about in class.

In the third year of the Civil War, there isn’t much to look forward to. In a time of distress, nothing seems possible, but yesterday was something different. April 8th, 1864 President Abraham Lincoln approved the Columbia Institution college status. This action, although unnecessary, made the Columbia Institution the first college for the deaf. Many people look down upon the deaf and think that they are dumb. However, many can not say this because of the fact that Edward M. Gallaudet is allowed to award degrees to his students. This shows that the deaf community is to be respected in a huge way, considering that Abraham Lincoln signed the bill.

Edward Miner Gallaudet didn’t always want to be the president of the Columbia University (later called Gallaudet University, in honor of E. M. Gallaudet’s father Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet). In fact, he wanted to be a banker. His father encouraged him to become a teacher of the deaf, but still lead Edward in the right direction. After his father died, a man named Amos Kendall told Edward about an opening as a superintendent of a school. He took it and became very successful. After that, Edward was looked at as having an altruistic soul; a colleague once said, “Several times when Dr. Gallaudet wanted appropriations, while I very much desired his success, I felt that he had undertaken more than could be accomplished; but somehow, under the influence of that earnest zeal, that even temperament, and the strong arguments which have always characterized his efforts, before the close of the session he would get practically what he desired.” Edward Gallaudet does everything in his power to make his college the best it can be to his staff and his students. He is a selfless person that wants to improve the community and the standards of the deaf.

Edward’s story goes back before he was born. His interest with the deaf started long ago as well. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet saw a little child standing in a playground. He wonderd why she wasn’t doing anything. He went over to her, and noticed that she couldn’t hear. He began to gesture to her. That little girl’s name was Alice Cogswell. Thomas helped her learn new things. He was later approached by a man named Laurent Clerc who was from France who taught Thomas a new form of Sign Language to teach. They established a new school and it attracted a lot of students of many different varieties and backgrounds. This was the beginning of a new era of Sign Language.

Sign Language was not always here. Sign Language was not always popular. Sign Language was not always used. But, it’s different now. From France we have a whole different language. It’s helped so many people learn to communicate their ideas through so many different outlets such as schools, jobs, and other things.

• Mi grupo y yo hicimos un PSA sobre ensuciar en Filadelfia y porque es no bien para la medioambiente.
• Por crear el PSA, la cosa más importante que aprendí fue este 75% de americanos admiten ensuciando.
• Me gusta el PSA de mi group porque es muy persuasivo y que tiene muy bonitas fotos.
  
• Si pudiera hacer el proyecto otra vez, yo cambiaría lo que tiene mas fotos de el medioambiente, animales, y plantas.

• Share the first version of your refrán.

La ciudad del amor fraternal,

Una lugar único y orignal.

• What is your refrán supposed to communicate?
• Our refrán is supposed to communicate that we live in the city of brotherly love, a place that's unique and original. A place where people have high hopes, but troubled dreams, where all roads are unknown. But, most of all that this is the place that we call home.
  
• What are you especially happy about with your first draft?
• Yes, we were happy about the first draft because of how we worded I think. It's deep, yet fun.
  
• What would you like to improve about your refrán first draft?
• I think that we would like to make it a little bit longer.
  
• What was difficult about writing your refrán? 
• The most difficult part was rhyming. We had a hard time doing that with only a limited amount of words that actually made sense with what we were trying to say and that rhymed well.
  

Throughout the year, we've been focusing on a lot of different themes of English and History. There was the past, obviously, and there was the future. All the things that we have taken in have been extremely beneficial to our lives. We've learned lessons and taken in values from other people's mistakes or ideas.

In English, though the first part of the year was focused on descriptive stories, we have certainly learned how to decipher the true moral values that could help us later on in life, or at this point in our lives. "Days are not always what they seem." From a short simple paragraph grew a descriptive essay. Of which, I admit, was not my best work, but, looking back... it helped a lot in the end of the year. In our descriptive essays we were to link two different occurrences together by a bigger idea. In my essay, the bigger idea was that days are not always what they seem. I figured this would be a nice topic, because as Hannah Montana says, "everybody makes mistakes, everybody has those days, everybody knows what I'm talking about, everybody gets that way." I just feel that everyone can relate to having those days, good or bad. So, that’s the reason I wrote about them.

Another project in English, was the last quarter benchmark, which was a three page thesis paper. I feel that this one was the much more refined version of the second benchmark. The Lord of The Flies paper was a thesis paper, but the past quarter, there was a lot of improvement. The outside source was better, and much more on point in getting an exact example that related to the thesis. The thesis was “When you have people who surround you with love, and they do something that may be unkind to you in a way, is it considered 'out of love?”

In history the values were a little different. There were always something about the world involved in beliefs and ideas. In my op-ed, it was all about nuclear power. ""It looks like our world leaders 'have it under control' for right now. I wonder where this will take us in about 5 years?" There were many sides to take in this piece. The good, the bad, the smart, the stupid.  Like Mr. Block said, a good topic should be controversial. And, I think this one was a very controversial topic that could have been further debated.

A last example for history was the museum proposal. I feel like I poured my heart and soul into this benchmark. I did tons and tons of research, and it felt like I was sitting at my desk for hours. I feel like it was maybe one of my strongest benchmarks. “You could see how the Dutch really monopolized an innocent country that was rich in goods.” Like the op-ed, this one was benchmark was controversial as well. It supported colonialism rather than not supporting it like the other benchmarks were.

Overall, I loved my sophomore year. English and history were maybe 2 of my favorite subjects, even though they may not have been my strongest. They were the ones that I had the most fun in everyday, and it would be a complete loss if I missed out on these classes, so I'm glad that I've gotten to experience all of this, this whole year. I've really valued my time here.

Catherine Nardone

12.19.10

            Its already dark and its freezing cold outside. It was a cold night, which was great for ice skating… but I couldn't go since I was already on my way home

            "Who are you talking to?" My dad asks as I pick up my phone.

            "Nobody," I sign, "I'm on FB."

            "Oh, okay, well, we'll be home soon."

            "K," I signed back to him.

            My phone is in my hand and I'm on my way back home to my mom's house for the weekend. My dad and I are talking, and then I hear it.

            Buzz!

            My mom just texted me…

6:32 pm:

mom: hi whatsup qq

me: nothing, you do do?

mom: i home feel sick… jeff here, soon home…. he go ice skate w. fam… then go home. where you? you plans for wkend?

me: oh that nice. i in car soon home 10 mins. tell jeff stay there… can i w. jeff? i text now. is okay?

mom: sure… you need money? ask don. he give will.

me: okay, we there soon. gtg. okay?

mom: okay see you here.

            So, my mom is deaf. And she's never really stepped out of that world. She grew up in the deaf community, went to school in the deaf community, married into the deaf community, and had children who grew up the same. Until, that is, I came along. My father wasn't born deaf. He get German Measles when he was 3, and lost his hearing. So when I was born, I got his genes and was able to hear. I pretty much got the best of both worlds, and it may not be the same for a lot of people. People get raised in one world, and with one language, and they speak it for the rest of their lives, while probably altering it without noticing it. I speak in my moms language, and I speak in my language. I willingly step into my mother's world, without changing anything about myself, just so that she can understand me. I do that so she doesn't have to. I know she won't, and I know she isn't good at understanding English, so I learn more about sign language to have that better relationship with her.

            Just like in "Mother Tounge" by Amy Tan… She steps into her mother's world of "broken english." "It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with." I suppose this sums it up nicely… I grew up learning two languages, and it'll stay that way.

6:47 pm:

me: Hey! Jefe… How's it going my favorite cousin in the whole wide world (not…jk)? ahaha. Are you going ice skating? Welp, if yer going, can I come? Pweasee? Let me know dude, kay? Love ya!

Jeff: Hey Catheter! Yes, we are going ice skating, and guess who else is coming!?

Me: No.

Jeff: Yes.

Me: OH MY GOD THIS IS THE BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE. LML LML LML LML!

Jeff: Sure it is?

Me: It really is. Okay, you need to wait for me to go get changed and be a nice little cousin for a little while to tell me if my outfit looks good.

Jeff: Ahh! Kids these days! … Okay.

Me: YES! Okay, be there soon. Love ya!

Jeff: Love ya, my little Cath!

            Most of my cousins can hear. We have lots of inside jokes, and I don't speak to them the way that I would speak to my mom. Amy Tan, once again sums it up in an easier way than I can explain. "Recently I was made keenly aware of the different Englishes I do use." This is me. I just recently became aware of all the different ways that I speak to my friends up North. I mean, it wasn't always this way. I used to be really shy, and it wasn't until about 3 years ago, when I started to talk and form really good relationships with the people I now call some of my closest friends. We have all these inside jokes, and we yell, joke, and tease, but all in good nature. I wouldn't have it any other way.

            “Tristan... Oh my god! Shuddup!”

“Ahhh, cue me… I’m stahnding right here, you don’t have to shout!”

            We were all hanging out at Jeff and Liz’s and this was just one of the first fights between Tristan and I. Tristan, Matt, Ryan, Zach, Jeff, Liz, Rachael, and I were all jammed into Jeff and Liz’s tiny living room. Of course, Ryan, Zach, and Tristan are huddled in a corner talking about the iPhone and other Apple products while Matt and Jeff were playing Halo on Xbox. The girls and I never really feel out of place, we’re all family. It’s normal for me to be screaming at the guys with Liz and Rae tossing a few things in as well. But you know what they say, when a guy messes with you it means that they like you. But I never thought that.

            “Go, go, go!”

            “Crap!”

            “NOOOO!!!!”

            “A buhh?!?!”

            "Tristan, stop saying that!" I yelled at Tristan for saying "A buhh," for like the eighth time that night!

            Matt began to sign to me, he said "Whassamatter? You like him too much, don't stress it."

            "Aghh," I screamed… "But I've got a plaaaaaan…" I said in a singsongy voice.

            "Hahaha" he laughed, "Okay… I'm sure it'll work."

            "PFFFT!" Jeff scoffed, " that's debateable!"           

            It was going to be a long night!

            Sure enough that night dragged into next week!

“Do you have enough room?”

“Yeah, aha, I’m good, are you sure you don’t need me to move, because I can..?”

“No, I’m positive you’re good.”

“Okay, well I just have to warn you, I’m a very elbow-y eater…”

“I’ll be okay, thanks though.”

That’s how almost all of Matt and my conversations go… Rachael, Matt and I had to share chairs at Jeff and Liz’s house…

The only reason I was even there, was because Jeff was at my house building a shed for my step-dad and then when he was done, I came home… he was going ice skating with our Philly friends and my our friends from Bangor… I was upset that I hadn’t know about this (Yes I did, I stalk Tristan’s profile.)… So I invited myself, and lo and behold I was able to go. So I zoomed upstairs to get changed into my wintery clothes. Then we left to go to the River Rink and met up with our friends.

“Emmert! Stop!!!!”

“Gosh, I swear when she skates the Emmert comes out in her!”

“I know!”

“Emily… Stop!!! Please!” Rachael and I both screamed…

That evening resulted in me being able to stay over Jeff and Liz’s house for the weekend. While we were there we had some Tennessee sized adventures. We traveled 4 hours to Jersey to drop a plow off to this guy named “Plow Steve…” He was creepy. After that, Rae and I go home to find that she left Ryan 4 messages on his phone that started with “Oh Ry-Ry!” Then we picked up Zach, Ryan’s little brother, then we went to Jeff and Liz’s house to eat, only to see that 3 people had to share a seat…

“Oh crud it all!” Rachael and I said.

Later that night, we watched Matt as he downed a Four Loko, while Tristan and the other young’ns were playing the colander game. That resulted in people screaming and howling over Pappy saying that he cant understand a word I was saying, and Tristan and me making fun of Rachael saying “Pickle.”

Then a party the next day finished off the weekend

Us kids these days!!!!

            We joke and tease but we all mean well. I think that the reason that we speak this way is because I’ve formed such good friendships with them, that I can easily just be sarcastic, and they wouldn’t take it offensively, but if I used that language with my mother, she would get upset, and take it the wrong way.

            All in all, I think that I can say that the best thing about me is that I’m always me even if I change the way I speak when I’m with my friends or my mom… even if my friends know sign language, we still speak in the way that formed our friendship… I mean, just because some of my friends know sign language, it doesn’t mean we wont use it; we will if we want to tell secrets, but that’s all. To me, speaking sign language isn’t a downfall, it’s an enhancement to my personality, and it ties in my mother’s life with mine.

Catherine Nardone

September 2010

English – Iron

Descriptive Essay

The beginning of the day can start so groggy, but it can turn so easily into happy and exciting day. You may wake up on the wrong side of the bed, on a cold and rainy morning, and instantly feel groggy, sad, and terrible. Somethi5ng may happen along the way to your destination point, whether it be work, school or play, that can instantly turn your day around and make it much more exciting that it was to begin with! I know that for me this has happened to me, and sometimes it was the opposite. It sure does make me think about that one time when I was happy that I woke up, but the day then turned into such a repressed one.

The light shining in told me that it was morning… I recalled last night. Christmas Eve… That meant today was Christmas! How exciting! I crept along my hallway, and peeked around the corner to see that my dad’s room was empty. YES! I thought to myself. He’s awake, how joyous! I raced down the steps to see him sitting at his desk. I turned to face him, and he saw me out of the corner of my eye.

“Good morning, Catherine Anna, and Merry Christmas,” he said.

“Merry Christmas to you too, daddy,” I responded.

I made my way to the kitchen, with my dad who was already dressed in his clothes, while I was still in my pajamas. We sat down and I ate breakfast and drank hot chocolate while my dad sat and drank his mid-morning coffee.

My dad looked at me after I finished my breakfast and asked “Do you want to open your presents now?”

“Dad, that was a stupid question! Of course I do!” I quickly responded to him.

I ran to the living room, and glanced up at the picture frame above our little 3-foot fake Christmas tree, that’s been there as long as I could remember. I glanced at the picture frame that holds the painting that I so dearly remembered. I glanced at the painting of the two little children sitting next to each other on a hill. I could so vividly see the love in their eyes when I looked at them. The boy, he’s lying down behind the girl, smiling at her with a lot of warmth, and you could see the love in his eyes too. The girl is smiling a smirk, at the boy… They are both staring longingly into each other’s eyes, like it was meant to be. I glanced up at the painting and thought about my grandmother. Gone. Christmas day and she wasn’t there. A year had passed, and I thought the pain would too, but it came back on Christmas day, a supposed time of happiness. I thought “How could such a merry day, bring back so much sorrow?”

Looking back, and thinking about that memory, makes me think about that other time when my life was the opposite… I awoke so angry, and when I look back now, I ask myself how I could have been angry on such a great day I had ahead of me.

“FOUR A.M.!?!?!? Why so early!?” I screamed.

“All the good stuff would have been gone if we woke up later, you know that,” said Rachael. “Get up now, or we’ll leave without you.”

I stepped out of bed groggily and got dressed. I pulled on my comfort jeans, socks, and tan suede fake Ugg boots. Then my brown tank that I knew for a fact looked good on me… After that my pink ribbed Aeropostale sweater, then a soft and warm brown scarf. I went through that whole bathroom routine and I was ready to go. I thought about how I’m not able to be with my dad that year. He knew that I loved and missed him, but I just couldn’t be there. Because of that stupid court rule… But, he also knew that I did want to get tons of stuff, for more than half off the regular price. Black Friday was that day, and I was seriously ready to shop until I dropped. I took my purse, and jetted down the stairs, to see that I was really the last person up. The smell of coffee lured me to the kitchen. I went towards the cabinet and took the mug that says, “Bigger is Better.” I poured a whole bunch of French Vanilla creamer in the mug. As I poured the coffee, I felt my insides waking up just from the aroma that smelt so sweet. I took it upon myself to eat a banana out of the fruit bowl on my aunt’s counter, it was the last one, so I had to treat it like it was an impossible mission. But I knew she wouldn’t mind. I’m like, her favorite niece.

“Come on Catherine, we’re leaving now!” said one of my cousins.

“On my way!” I yelled back.

I made my way to the door and as we left, I thought about all the things that could possibly be mine that day.

Its funny how things turn out, because I knew that I was going to be happy because of all the shopping I was going to do, and I ended up being angry about being woken up early. It’s almost silly in a way that the way days turn out. One day you can be happy, and then the next extremely depressed and down in the dumps. It could be the weather, or the association that could bend the mood, we’re fitted out to have. It may be rainy, but you could be around some really great people who are influencing the day you have to make it better than any other. Or, it may be the opposite. You could be having a great day, and then the weather could change unexpectedly.

All in all, the days aren’t what you expect them to be… Days are not always what they seem.