A sudden jerk of my body results in a near full trash can. I lay back down engulfed in pillows and blankets, trapped under an immovable force. After a few moments of suffrage, I become fed up with the boiling of my body. I twist and roll but the boa constrictors refuse to letup. Too weak to call out, I assume the house is empty. The faint hall light illuminates a world light years away. My head sinks back into the ground.

A cold hand placed on my forehead sends my head into a downwards spiral. I arise to a serengeti, the mellow breeze follows the commands, the grass, revealing a group of men. They’re all circled around a crackling beast. All of the sudden they begin to fling their sticks at the creature, only stoking it to lash out directly at them, swallowing them whole. I turn away from the suffering men but I’m forced to stay.   

In the blink of an eye I find myself in a world of color, the room I’m in was drowned in color. The walls appear to be comprised of granny smith apples, the floor made of oranges and finally a sky blue ceiling to pull it all together. This feels much more like I’m awake but some surreal feeling doesn't resonate quite right. The world begins to spin and I begin to overheat, I unwillingly disappear once again. My head throbs me into another world. Icy water flowed down my throat, it begins to freeze my body from the inside out. My mind refuses to thaw and I’m left looking at the face of a giant pillow. The darkness begins to swirl and blotches begin to turn to light. The instant rattling of a train along it’s tracks is heard until I’m engulfed in light. I lay in silence until I once again fall back into a swirling sleep.

Authors Note:

In my piece I draw great influence from Ken Kesey and much less than Atwood. Much like Kesey my novel is surreal and is a trip. Although a lot of my novel is very psychedelic it has real life translations much like Ken Kesey's. Kesey uses a lot of descriptive language in order to convey events in the book. Like Chief, my character is not mentally stable so he describes what he sees. For example when the boa constrictors are wrapped around me, it actually translates to blankets draped over me. Kesey's character in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", Chief Bromden doesn't have a sense of time. My character doesn't have a sense either. 

The little I do derive from Atwood is her ability to use Offred as a platform to convey facts in the novel without anyone down right saying it. Like when my characters body is freezing, it's actually the character drinking cold water from the sink. 

Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew has been accredited by many to be the first romantic comedy in literature. The story is of a group of wealthy Italian men named Lucentio, Hortensio, and Grumio who attempt to court the beautiful daughter of a wealthy man named Baptista. Batista's daughter Bianca is the youngest meaning she can not be courted until his eldest daughter Katherine has wed. So the three men have to think outside the box in order to find ways to get close to her. The play’s purpose is to question whether or not love actually exists in a world where arranged marriage is the only excepted marriage.

The Big Sick is a movie by Kumail Nanjiani in which he both wrote and starred in. The true story is of how Kumail a stand up comedian at the time left his traditional muslim family in Chicago for a white women named Emily Gordon who at the time was very sick due to a lung infection caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria. For a long period of time Kumail hid Emily from his parents so they would bring Pakistani women by the house to meet Kumail. Essentially the women court the man and his family.

The Taming of the Shrew and The Big Sick both revolve around love and whether or not love can be accomplished with an arranged marriage. Kumail struggles in the Big Sick breaking his families traditions to avoid being arranged to marry because he knows he will not find love that way. He also knows his parents also only wanted it as a status symbol to other Pakistani families. In the Taming of the Shrew Kate is forced to marry Petruchio because she has no other options. Her father only wants a man of wealth to take care of his fortune after he has passed. Given this the reader/ viewer can determine if marriage is arranged by parents it benefits the parents instead of the actual couple being married.  

Halfway through the play Lucentio reveals his plan to get closer to Bianca without the hardships of traditionally courting her. “You will be a school master and undertake the teaching of the maid: That's your device.” (Pg.43 Line 195). The plan was Lucentio’s servant Tranio’s brain child. He would step in as Lucentio so the actual Lucentio could get Bianca’s father, Baptista’s blessing. The plan works perfectly. In The Big Sick the situation is flipped as well as the gender roles. Like Bianca, Kumail is the one who is burdened with the weight of his parents judgement, like Baptista Kumail’s parents do not know the significant other exists. There is a point in the movie where Kumail is telling his little brother Naveed about Emily because the two are both less religious than their parents. Naveed is however happily married to a Pakistani woman. Naveed says to his brother, “Listen I understand, you’re in America and you want to see what it’s like, but eventually you have to marry a Pakistani woman.” Both of these examples reflect on how people will go out of their way to break societal normalities for love although it puts a lot of hardship on them. Bianca’s burning desire for Lucentio was so great that she could not even wait to get a chance of marrying Lucention. She was not willing to take the risk of Baptista rejecting him. Bianca was forced to take a shortcut to get what she desired most. Kumail on the other hand was forced to take to long route because he risked losing his parents love, or Emily’s. Both these situations but a great amount of pressure on the son and daughter who were forcing them into said relationship.

In the final act of the play Tranio (disguised as Lucentio is making his final plea to Baptista as to why he’s the best husband Baptista could ask for. Baptista: “I must confess your offer is the best and let your father make the assurance she is your own; else you must pardon me. If you should die before him, where's her dower?  Pg. 103 Line 415. In this line we see Baptista accepting Tranio’s offer so long as Bianca is provided with money in the event of Lucentio’s death. In The Big Sick Kumail’s mother is talking to him about how he shouldn’t expect a spark from the woman he will potentially spend the rest of his life with. “There’s not just going to be a magic spark, you have to stay open.” In both of these scenarios the true intentions of both parents, they have skin in the game and they prioritize their success over the happiness of their own children. One could speculate that Kumail’s mother wants him to marry a Pakistani woman because of the respect and honor it brings to the family. Although the family follows Islam she only cares about the nationality he marry’s meaning there is no religious tradition involved. The first and only thing Baptista asked for from the man that would marry his daughter. She in fact had no input on the matter. Baptista wanted to keep his family's socio economic status with the arrangement of the two.

Romantic love is a powerful force and that fact shines true in both of these pieces of comedic literature. Although many may believe Shakespeare intention of writing the novel was love doesn’t exist the will and grit of Bianca and Lucentio shine true in this play. And who knows the play was written in a time where arranged marriage was the only marriage, so maybe the play challenges that. The Big Sick is infact a challenge to arranged marriage which is institutionalized in so many cultures. It calls it out and say true love should prevail over the wishes and fulfillments of the parents needs. It is for these reasons arranged marriage mainly benefits the children's parents.   

Eli Zimmerman

Ms. Pahomov

English 3

January 8, 2017

I have seen my mother cry once in my life. I remember I was eight  years old when I walked into my parents bedroom, the room was near pitch black and the air was stale it seemed as if the life had been sucked away from the room. I walked up to the lump covered in blankets and pillows, it was my mom. Her face was buried in a pillow and she was crying softly.

“Every year she would call me on my birthday just to catch up and see how I had been.”

“Do you want anything, maybe a glass of water?”

“No I’m fine thank you, I just need sometime to be alone.”

To me my grandmother was someone that made my parents smile, someone who gave me presents she was nothing more yet nothing less. Unfortunately this is all that sticks with me when I think of her. Did I really love her? Should I have loved and cherished the times we had? The simple answer to the deep hitting questions is “I don’t know.”

She died when I was seven. Her name was Janet, she lived in Rochester Minnesota, home to some incredibly cold weather and the world famous Mayo Clinic. The to of us were never all that close due to her sickness she had been isolated from the outside world, including myself. I at the time was much too young to comprehend what had happened, frankly I still do not know the full detailed story because I have been too scared that I will trigger another negative reaction from my mother, which I have no intention of doing.

My feelings of grief are only directed towards those who knew her for who she was, a strong hard working mother of two who was the binding agent in her household. Although I respect these attributes greatly I do not feel a hole in my heart where my grandmother's presence should have been before. I know I have felt love, the embrace of my friends and family, the home cooked meals my mother is always eager to whip up for me, and the passion and drive of my father to make me happy. But love has never been taken away from me. I see friends and family who have gone through the some of the hardest situations anyone can imagine, yet here I am untouched by loss. It makes me feel for the people who have experienced loss. Why have they been selected, why not I? I guess I am greatly fortunate to have not yet been touched by the inevitable effect of loss of someone I love.

I have come close to this event was when my uncles girlfriend of 15 years was diagnosed with a serious form of pancreatic cancer. Once my father had told me the news I cried for a long while. I stayed up, my head churned through the memories of a woman who had babysat me for many years. To think someone who had always been a part of my family may disappear from my life as soon as I woke up kept me up. I had constants butterflies in my stomach I was anxious and weary. This unnerving feeling lasted until I saw her again, when I saw that the diagnosis did not put a damper in her spirit I was finally able to get composure. One who has not experienced this awful disease could not fathom the hardships that a patient must go through.    

This memory of my mother has taught me many things in life, both the imperfections and the good things about death. It has taught me that there is nothing harder than losing the one you love, to have their body and mind be stripped from your grasp brings the person to a sunken low point. But in this pit of despair there is love and compassion for the person that you so dearly care about it results in congregation, like that wonderful ceremony that was held to honor Janet’s legacy. Her ashes were spread in the woods to memorialize her spirit which remained wild and free until the end. The loss of my grandmother has shown me that when people pass they’re remembered through the people that loved them. The time my parents had with my grandmother and even physical attributes, like how I’m constantly reminded I have my grandmother's eyes, blue as the middle of the atlantic. My mother honors the spirit of my grandmother through other things as well, like the fact that she liked marzipan, or long walks in the woods. For not knowing my grandmother all too well she sure has lightened the dark world around me.

The first time I saw my father cry was when we were returning from a basketball tryout that I had completely bombed. At this time I was a small chubby kid that had a bone to pick with running, so when the coach made us run laps I decided to hand in the towel and tell my father to drive me home.

In the car we got into a yelling match for a reason at the time I thought was not deep. He explained that it’s not a good habit for me to get into, quitting at the first sign of difficulty. He digressed as a steady trickle of tears began to fall from his face. I could see the frost from his breath as it intensified. It was 7:30 at night in one of the colder months, like January. He took a deep and began to tell me why quitting without reason was hard for him to tolerate. My father talked about how he started his own architectural firm from nothing. He talked about how he had been fired from many jobs because he was deemed to have a poor work ethic. So obviously the importance of persistence and determination were the key points to his speech.

I at the time was mad at my father for not siding with me and my acceptance of defeat so I remained speechless. The car did not hear another word from either of us for the rest of the night. The only things to be heard were my fathers sniffles and the heater. Deep down I was confused, my mind was racing and I could not conjure up anything to say that would support my argument that quitting is ok. Everything I could think of I knew my father would know how to counter it. It wasn’t till much later that I understood the importance of that lesson.

I didn’t think highly of the things my father explained at the time, in fact it made me want to quit basketball because I felt as if I had to put in a great deal of effort for a sport was wasn’t even that passionate about. In reality the effort I had put in wasn’t enough, my hustle and determination had only shown a mild interest in the sport, I wasn’t even that good but I didn’t notice that at the time.

The importance of my fathers lesson is near priceless to me and the fact that it occured in a time that was swirled with emotion roots the morals in my brain so that they may never be removed. I have learned to try my best and I have learned that the long road of defeats is built to slow me down, but I am aware this is where we strive and push on till eventually we come out successful.  

Eli Zimmerman

Ms. Pahomov

English 3

September 25, 2017

The Unfortunate Truth of the Fishing industry

The fishing industry has been strangeling the environment for the past century.  Many hopefuls believe that if fishing industry is regulated and reduced the oceans fish population may thrive once again. However, this hope is unrealistic because,  the fishing industry has such an important role for developed nations and economy’s it would be  impossible to reverse what is happening without collapsing the world economy at the same time.  

Since the beginning of civilization, fishing has been a staple source of food for people. Nowadays it’s estimated that the total value of fish exports in underdeveloped countries is worth more to impoverished nations than the rice, coffee, sugar, and tea industry’s combined (Marine Stewardship Council). In some cases it was found that certain poor coastal African countries like gambia are actually not being looked at close enough and experts are underestimating the importance of fish in their marketplace. Meaning, not only are fish incredibly important to thriving economies, but are also a necessity to poor coastal countries economies. The fish trade is a 258 billion dollar industry, because majority of struggling countries happen to be located on a coast meaning this means fishing is most likely the main source of income and food. With that being said, fishing is so deeply rooted in the culture of hundreds of countries because both democracy and trade are built around it. The end of commercial fishing would cause a collapse and a lead to bankruptcy around the world for poor countries.

People debate that a simple solution to the problem of overfishing is to tighten regulations on commercial fishing and create artificial fish farms, which would deter people from foraging for wild fish. If a country like the U.S would implement a ban on commercial fishing and invest in farms, it would affect the global economy in monumental proportions (Food and Water Watch). Although it may be easier on the environment, use less resources and lower the price of fish, millions of local fishermen will lose their jobs causing an instant collapse of markets. It takes far fewer people to run a fish farm than it does to man a fishing vessel. Millions of people would be out of jobs, consumer rates will plummet sparking a much higher supply than demand which would cause companies to be forced to let workers go. This is due to the thriving fishing industry and its influence on the world.

Asia has been an leading cause of overfishing for centuries because the Asian fish market is the largest in the world. The selling prices of fish have skyrocketed causing the fishing industry to be incredibly lucrative. China being the largest exporter of fish, caught 32.5 million tons of fish in 2014 (The World Bank). That means that the average Chinese citizen consumes a staggering 350 pounds of fish a year (Green Facts), which makes up for nearly a third of the weight of food the average human eats a year. If China were to stop fishing completely every single citizen would be losing essentially a meals worth of food a day causing the country to starve. This would send the world's most populated country into an era of perpetual hunger which other countries could simply not meet the demand for. China and Japan have no other protein alternatives, fish is a necessity for their diet.  

Although people who do not consider seafood a regular part of their diet may not think that overfishing matters much, its influence goes beyond fisherman to the global economy. “Within the next decade, fish in the ocean will become so scarce that fishing will no longer be profitable”-Andrew Jacobs. If countries decide to call for harsher regulations then the world risks spikes in unemployment, hunger, and poverty. If the nations continue as it is then these problems will inevitably happen as well. Knowing this,  the world may face a new problem that cannot be solved, which is another example of what greed and ignorance can lead to. For example Japanese approved vessels have been found fishing in illegal water hundreds of times.  For these reasons it is truly impossible to halter commercial fishing on planet earth.  

Works Cited:

“China's Overfishing Crashes Fishing Industry.” Global Animal, 1 May 2017, www.globalanimal.org/2017/05/01/the-king-of-the-sea-how-chinas-king-sized-appetite-is-sinking-the-global-fishing-industry/ . Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

“10 Alarming Facts About Overfishing.” One Green Planet, 17 Dec. 2014, www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/10-alarming-facts-about-overfishing/.  Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

“Oceans, Fisheries and Coastal Economies.” World Bank, www.worldbank.org/en/topic/environment/brief/oceans . Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

“Fisheries Latest data.” Fisheries: 6. How much fish is consumed worldwide?, www.greenfacts.org/en/fisheries/l-2/06-fish-consumption.htm .Accessed 24 Sept. 2017

Works Cited:

“China's Overfishing Crashes Fishing Industry.” Global Animal, 1 May 2017, www.globalanimal.org/2017/05/01/the-king-of-the-sea-how-chinas-king-sized-appetite-is-sinking-the-global-fishing-industry/ . Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

“10 Alarming Facts About Overfishing.” One Green Planet, 17 Dec. 2014, www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/10-alarming-facts-about-overfishing/.  Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

“Oceans, Fisheries and Coastal Economies.” World Bank, www.worldbank.org/en/topic/environment/brief/oceans . Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

“Fisheries Latest data.” Fisheries: 6. How much fish is consumed worldwide?, www.greenfacts.org/en/fisheries/l-2/06-fish-consumption.htm .Accessed 24 Sept. 2017

Érase una vez, hubo una guerra realmente violenta que tuvo lugar en el extremo oriente de África. En el seis de junio, en el año de 666, los poderes del mal estaban en el aire. En este viernes, los árboles gruesos ardieron, causando incendios forestales, y el humo llenó el cielo. La gente de la tierra no tenía idea por qué ellos luchaban, la guerra fue tan prolongado. El cielo giró ominosamente y lluvia duchó al tierra. Fuera de ninguna parte una monstruosa grieta del relámpago golpea el campo de batalla y una misteriosa figura apareció . Acompañada por un rayo cegador de luz, la figura tenía una estructura muscular, y estaba cubierta de pintura blanca y roja. Muchos corrieron por sus vidas.

Después, Changó empezó a golpear su pecho, hacía un toque de tambor que se parecía al sonido del trueno. Con sus manos apretó en un puño, Changó golpeó el suelo con una fuerza muy grande. El hizo una raja enorme por la costa sureste de África. Él había creado la isla de Madagascar por sí sola. Anunció a la multitud restante: "¡Yo soy Chango, el Dios de la Guerra!" y volvió a las nubes. Había creado sola la isla de Madagascar. Chango estaba en paz a lo miraba el caos baja del él, pero su paz fue temporario. Su hermanastro Ogun, quien lucha contra la injusticia, vió a la carnicería y decidió a para la guerra. Lo entró la isla y mató los ejércitos con un golpe de su cuchillo. Ciudades formabas dónde Ogún paso, y paz fue restaurado a la isla. Después de ver a Ogun terminar la guerra, que a Chango le gustaba ver, Chango desafió a Ogun. Los hombres lucharon hábilmente. Changó llamó fuego a énvio el lujo de la isle. Esto marcado el comenza de la pelea de toda la vida de Oggún y Changó.

How it all goes Downhill

By Eli Zimmerman

William Golding’s fictional novel, Lord of the Flies, is a world renowned classic that tells the story of a group of grade school boys who hailed from the Home Counties. The boys have been stranded on a deserted island. In order to survive the kids must work together, so they appoint a chief via the democratic process of voting. They decide on  Ralph, who is one of the eldest. As the book progresses we see another figure rise to power, Jack another older boy, who challenges Ralph’s position and wins it over by using fear to his advantage. Jack overthrows Ralph by using fear to unite the boys, and gets them to join him. The book raises the point that fear and misinformation lead to the unwinding of democracy.  Recent political events in the United States and Europe confirm that relationship.

Towards the beginning of the book the boys join in meeting to discuss what the group's agenda should be. They use a conch shell as a tool to create order. Whoever has the shell in their hand is the only person that can talk. As they talk, a little boy who is too shy to talk raises a point about a mysterious beast on the island. At one point a very young boy attempts to share what he has seen in the woods. With a little reiteration by Piggy, the boy tells the group what he has seen. “Now he says it was a beastie.” “Beastie?” “A snake thing.” “Ever so big.” “He saw it.” (35). Although the older kids take the little boy”s comment as a joke at first, the beast morphs into the theme of fear recurring throughout the rest of the book. The creation of fear is what drives the book’s main plot. Fear of the beast subliminally fuels every single decision made by the boys throughout the rest of the novel. The beast’s actual physical appearance is not important rather the symbol of fear it represents is what drives the plot. With the beast in play, the boys have a real life representation for their fear. The symbol makes the boys disorganized and leads to trust issues. Before they know it, the power of fear begins to take control of the group.

Much later in the book we see that things have gotten out of control for Ralph and his trusty advisor, Piggy. Jack has distanced himself from the group and has developed a few very close allies. As the story progresses,so does Jack’s power. We see the boys flocking to the leader who shows the least amount of so called fear. Some of Jack’s friends have stolen Piggy’s glasses, forcing Piggy to go and retrieve them. The rock struck Piggy, a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. (181). Jack offers the boys protection and food if they join him. While Ralph sticks with the original plan of lighting a signal fire and hoping help comes. We can assume Jack is able to persuade the boys to join him, because of the promises he makes. When people are uneducated and fear the unknown they seek refuge and protection. Jack seems fearless which is the only thing the kids look for. Because of fear they toss rational thinking and the possible instability of Jack’s personality out the window, just for protection from the unknown. The shattering of the conch represents the end of order and democracy within the group. Fear unravels democracy. With order turned on its head, Jack has the ability to strike and take his place as leader. He chooses to do this with force, and anarchy is unleashed within the group.

A New York Times article, written by Amanda Taub states that Western democracy is on the decline. If you look at the numbers you begin to see America is falling behind on global test scores. This article concludes that a majority of America is becoming less and less intelligent. As of 2017, 75% of silicon valley’s skilled labor needed to be filled by people on the H1 B1 visa. The fact that Americans are increasingly less educated not only affects jobs, but also impacted the recent presidential election.  As seen in the last election millions of Americans turned away from a progressive candidate in Hillary Clinton, for a more conservative option, Donald Trump. Donald Trump planned to remove many parts of structured democracy, like the freedom of the press. A study by Fivethirtyeight surveyed 981 counties and found that 48 of the top 50 counties with the highest number of people possessing a four year degree voted for Clinton. But in the 50 counties with the lowest number of four year degrees Trump won the majority. Trump ran on the promises that he would build a wall to shelter America from Mexico and defeat ISIS. Many will debate that Mexico and ISIS should not be the top of America’s agenda. So through his ability to invoke fear and appeal to the uneducated side of America he won the presidency. A similar scenario is also found in the book when Jack promises safety from a thing that the boys couldn’t confirm existed.

On June 23, 2016 the United Kingdom (UK) decided to leave the European Union (EU). The EU is a European trade partnership between 28 countries. Experts call it a liberal trade deal because it involves single market free trade that is backed by the democratic side of Europe. The EU brings Europe closer together through trade ties. In 2016 a campaign was started by the right wing Unionist party to have the UK leave the EU. The party stated that dangerous immigrants were coming into the country due to very few trade regulations and poor border security. Just like Trump, the party ran on a campaign that generated fear. The movement began to pick up momentum and eventually came down to a vote. The day after the vote Brexit was issued, Google reported that the second highest search was “What is the EU?”. The vote in favor of Brexit was backed by a majority of uneducated voters. A study done by Telegraph showed that citizens in the UK lacking a university education who were over the age of 65, overwhelmingly voted against the EU. This outcome confirms that fear and limited education jeopardize the principles of democracy.

Because we all have the capacity to fear everyday things, emotion plays a major role in our decision making. When fear is mixed with limited education, we see people making conservative and protective decisions. As illustrated by Lord of the Flies fear resulting from information that is not critically analyzed is the beginning of the end for democracy.

Works cited:

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Taub, Amanda. "How Stable Are Democracies? ‘Warning Signs Are Flashing Red’." The New York Times. The New York Times, 29 Nov. 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2017.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/world/americas/western-liberal-democracy.html?_r=0

Natesilver538. "Education, Not Income, Predicted Who Would Vote For Trump." FiveThirtyEight. FiveThirtyEight, 28 Nov. 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2017. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/education-not-income-predicted-who-would-vote-for-trump/

Dunford, Ashley Kirk; Daniel. "EU referendum: How the results compare to the UK's educated, old and immigrant populations." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 24 June 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2017.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/24/eu-referendum-how-the-results-compare-to-the-uks-educated-old-an/

Zimmerman, Neetzan. "UK's second most Googled question after Brexit: 'What is the EU?'" TheHill. N.p., 24 June 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2017.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/leave-remain-brexit-uk-google-trends-what-is-eu-european-union-referendum-what-happens-now

Yo vivo en Mt. Airy, que es un barrio en la región noroeste de Filadelfia. La población es de casi 10.000. Mi barrio es muy tranquilo y seguro que puede ser bueno o malo. Una manera de cambiar el lado aburrido está agregando el arte público, ya sea graffiti o murales. He vivido allí toda mi vida, cuando pienso en mi barrio, pienso en el Arroyo Wissahickon y cómo mi comunidad lo protege. A veces deseo que yo vivía en el centro porque Mt. Airy, puede ser aburrido. En otras ocasiones, me gusta donde vivo. Mt. Airy es más agradable en verano, cuando se puede practicar senderismo y ciclismo en los bosques.

Este muro se encuentra en Mt. Airy. Mt. Airy tiene una rica tradición cultural, porque tiene una población muy diversa. En el mural, la gente de todas las razas están celebrando la palabra "comunidad". Esto tiene dos razones. Por un lado, el pueblo de Mt. Airy, constro el barrio con sus fortalezas. Elevamos el uno al otro por cuidar el uno del otro, haciendo de nuestra gran comunidad. Eso es lo que hace mi barrio tan genial, todo el mundo cuida de cada uno, porque la familia es la comunidad. Por otro lado, la pieza representa la diversidad dentro de la comunidad. Los colores aparecen en el mural serán principalmente los tonos de la piel, así como el verde de los árboles.

         Mi Mural que respete la diversidad y cultura en mi comunidad. Cuanto más se toman a partir de la rica historia del barrio, mejor será el mural. Quiero hacer de este diseño, porque el pueblo de Mt. Airy no comprendo lo afortunados que son de vivir en un lugar tan especial. Voy a incorporar imágenes de personas de todas las razas, la palabra "comunidad" en mi mural porque estamos mejor cuando estamos unidos. Hacemos la comunidad con nuestras propias manos.

“Here kid, take this.” That’s what he said as he handed me the gun. I had never had one in my hand before, the long barrel and extended clip for bullets went down to my knees. What am I supposed to do with this?

“You got two options kid, use it on yourself or use it on someone else, regardless I couldn’t care less.¨ The man was tall and had a cold expression that freaked me out.

I had no idea what to say to the man, so I took the gun from him. Why would I want to take my life with the gun? Why would anyone ever do that? The scary man must be joking and playing a trick on me.

I had been home in bed with my mommy, listening to her great stories only a day ago. This makes me want to break down and give up, but I knew I had to be strong for my family. Yesterday three men came to my house and talked to my mom as I ran around the backyard with my little sister. By the time they were finished talking mommy was crying. The guys then grabbed my shoulder and pointed me to an old rusty truck. Mom took my hand and told me these men were gonna take me to a place where all boys go when they reach the age of 13, but I knew by the markings on the truck they were soldiers. She told me things had changed. She said our home was in a war and they needed little boys like me to help out. I must go, I had to be the brave strong man she knew me to be, she said, as she began to cry. The men stepped in and told me I had to leave now, but my mom would not let go of me. One of the men hit her so hard she fell onto the dirt driveway. I began to scream along with my sister. I remember the men picking me up and carrying me to the car. My last glance of my family was from the back of the truck, mommy was lying in the dirt with her hand extended in my direction, I didn’t want this to be goodbye.

Now I’m here, a dark damp cellar full of sandbags and men.Mister, who will I be fighting against? How long will it be until I can see my mom? The soldier gave me an angry glare. I hope the men do not think I have the ability to really kill another person. I become heartbroken, heartbroken at the world. I think to myself, all war has done is destroy my family. Why should I do anything for these men? I see a bright shiny medal on a man's coat jacket. Why would someone want to win a medal for killing another person? I shouldn’t be here, maybe the army guys got the wrong kid. There are plenty of boys much older than me that are stronger and better, than me. They could just do my job and I could go home and see my little sister and mom once again.  

Yo trabajo en mi escuela y en mi casa

Mi familia es todo el mundo

Nosotros somos uno

Veo las palmas

Oigo la música en la casa

Toco la bate de béisbol

Saboreo el pollo asado

Huelo el pacana que en llamas

Escucho la música de mi familia

Camino las montañas

Nado en el océano

Admirativo el grande edificio

Somos Americanos

Hablamos todos idiomas

No somos una nación perfecta

Inglés está en yo sangre

Soy yo

Soy Eli Zimmerman

Casi, soy

Considerado y Apasionado

Cuando tengo tiempo libre, me encanta esuchar música

Practicar deportes y aprender cosas

No soy ni violento

Ni malicioso

Yo soy…

You!

​1. Today in class we watched a video the supported an anti bullying campaign. The video was a cartoon that depicted the life of a child, who gets bullied everyday at school, online, and outside of school.

2. It makes you think about how cruel bullying is and how easy it is to bully.

3. I only have one picture of myself online, and it's a picture for a resume I submitted for a summer camp I worked at.

4. I do not think people have much information to judge me on because it's only one picture.

5. The goal of internet trolls is to make someone feel bad. The troll then feels better because they have ruined the day for the person they've trolled.