Benchmark on book Review: 

Movie: https://vimeo.com/77799822 

You would think having telepathy would be great, but what if it put your life in danger?

“Hunted” by Cheryl Rainfield, is a thriller suspense book intended for a teen audience. The book is about a teenage girl named Caitlyn who is  telepathic and lives in a world where having any paranormal powers is illegal. Caitlyn is on the run with her mom away from the government troopers,who are people without paranormal powers who are called normals,they enslave, torture and kill Paranormals. Caitlyn and her mom stop in a city to settle for a while. Her mom finds a job and she attends a regular high school to blend in with the normals. She became friends with two normals named Rachel and Alex. She begins to  fall for Alex. Caitlyn is very scared to become closer to him because of how dangerous it would be if he turned her in. She begins to realize that  there are Paranormals that want to destroy all the Normals, the exact same way the Normals are trying to destroy all the Paranormals. Caitlyn has to decide if she wants to stay in hiding to protect her mom and herself, or take a stand to try and save the world.

The author of “Hunted”, Cheryl Rainfield is a canadian author who has written many books like “Scars” and “Stained”. Cheryl Rainfield has been abused, raped, bullied, tortured, has had her life threatened repeatedly, and has been mistreated because she is queer. “I’ve seen what people are like when they let hate twist them. And I know what it’s like to be in so much pain and feel so alone in that pain that I want to die. I want to lessen that pain for others if I can. And I want to increase compassion. I think the best way of doing this is through books.” Cheryl says that books help us get inside another person’s soul, thoughts and emotions and helps us understand another person and we begin to have more empathy and kindness not just for ourselves but for others also.  We begin to realize their’s more to why a person acts the way they do. 

To write Hunted she thought back on to some of her abuse experiences. Just like the main character Caitlyn, Cheryl knows what it’s like to have her life threatened, to be tortured, and having to decide whether to hide her true self or to be herself even if it means putting herself in danger. Cheryl says a lot of people can relate this book because many people struggle to be who they are because they are scared society will not accept them. Cheryl also had a strong love for fantasy, and she read a lot of books growing up. Fantasy helped her escape from the real world. Cheryl wished that she had telepathic so she could know what her abusers were going to do to her before they did them. Another thing that inspired hunted is the cruelty in the world with sexism, racism and homophobia. Cheryl tried to put a correlation of those types of things in all her books. 

I like Hunted because it was based in another world with different ruled and laws but still somehow related to the real world. It makes me mad and sad that people feel that they have to hide themselves to protect themselves because they’re scared of what people would think of them or what they would do to them. The same way Caitlyn has to hide herself from the Paratroopers. The book made me think about how cruel people in the world are. I agree with Cheryl and Caitlyn, I just want their to be more kindness in the world, so people can understand peoples situations. 

Bibliography:

Rainfield, Cheryl. "Cheryl Rainfield: Teen Fiction Author, Reviewer, and Book-a-Holic."Cheryl Rainfield: Teen Fiction Author, Reviewer, and Book-a-Holic. Cheryl Rainfield, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.

http://www.cherylrainfield.com/

"Cheryl Rainfield." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Oct. 2013. Web. 25 Oct. 2013. 

Journal #1:

“Now will I question Cassio of Bianca,

A huswife that by selling her desires

Buys herself bread and clothes. It is a creature

That dotes on Cassio, as ’tis the strumpet’s plague

To beguile many and be beguiled by one.

He, when he hears of her, cannot refrain

From the excess of laughter. Here he comes.”

- In this quote he is talking to the audience, telling them what he is about to do. He also is describing Bianca, by what he thinks of her and talking about Cassio. He seems to be talking about people in a mean way to himself, a lot in the play and this is one of those times. 

“ He takes her by the palm. Ay, well said, whisper! With as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio. Ay, smile upon her, do, I will gyve thee in thine own courtship. You say true, 'Tis so, indeed.”

• In this quote Iago is talking to himself about Cassio and Desdemona and how he is taking her hand and whispering to her and laughing. Iago is thinking that his plan is going perfectly. He is encouraging the things that they are doing but not  out loud to himself.

 “I have rubbed this young quat almost to the sense,

And he grows angry. Now, whether he kill Cassio

Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other,

Every way makes my gain. Live Roderigo,

He calls me to a restitution large

Of gold and jewels that I bobbed from him

As gifts to Desdemona.

It must not be. If Cassio do remain

He hath a daily beauty in his life

That makes me ugly. And besides, the Moor

May unfold me to him—there stand I in much peril.

No, he must die. But so, I hear him coming.”

- In this one he is talking to himself and his conscience. He is thinking about the different ways of how his plan could go and how it would effect him and the people around him.

Journal #2:

Emilia: 

She doesn't really observe anything in the beginning, she just did what her husband asked her to do. Iago asked her to take the handkercheif from Desdemonas stuff. She was unaware about the plan that Iago had. She didn't knwo that he was going to use the handkerchief to manipulate Othello, Cassio and Desdemona. 

Later in the story, she realizes how aggressive Othello can get when he is mad. He got pretty aggressive when he was mad at Desdemona for "cheating". Emilia was shocked at his destructiveness. She also saw that  Iago used her to trick Othello and the fact that Iago lied about everything he told everybody. She also realized that Iago was not as an honest man as she thought he was.

She didn't really have a motivation, but I think it was to help Desdemona out, and try to be on her side about the dispute. And to also try to convince Othello that she didn't cheat and to not hurt or kill her.

Journal #3:

Before the play Othello’s dad gave a handkerchief to his mom, which was a token of his love to show how much his dad loved his mom. Through his life he saw how important that was and what it meant to his parents. His mom gave it to him so that he could give it to his wife when he got older and fell in love with somebody. Throughout the book you see how much of a huge deal it is to Othello. The handkerchief is similar to how we use rings, marriage / engagement rings as a sign that you are taken and are in love.

Journal #4: 

1. The tone I am going to use is confused and serious at the same time. I'm not really using my actions that much I’m just going to use my hands and arms a lot when I'm talking. I'm not really in the scene that long so their really isn’t anything i'm going to be doing because I only have 2 lines.

2. We are going to use cups as prop because we are suppose to b drinking in the scene. I am also going to bring a hat just in case to see if we need it. There really isn't any other props I really need because I'm not in the scene that long.

3. We have come up with a good way to do our slapping scene. We are goingt to have sound effects on the offstage while the scene is going to make it seem more interesting and less boring. We think the sound effects will keep the audience interested and actually feel like they are there and this will also give them a better idea of what's going on.

Journal #5:

• “ I know, Iago, thy honesty and love doth mince this matter, making it light to Cassio. Cassio, I love thee, but never more be officer of mine.”

Othello is basically saying I love you Cassio, but Cassio not going to ever be an officer of mine because Cassio is trying to get his job back since Othello thinks that Cassio slept with his woman. So of course, Othello was rude and doesn’t give him the job since he controls that. In the first sentence I think Othello is telling Iago to let Cassio down nicely. Then in the second sentence, he realizes that Cassio is actually there and just decides to tell him himself.

• I think the performance went better than I expected because my partners never seemed to want to do the performance and on show-day they did much better than I expected. I would have experimented with my character a little bit more than I did. So I could really see what he was trying to get across and what he is really feeling at the time.
• I think performing the play helped a lot since we took out all the uneccessary scenes and focused on the important ones. When we were reading the book the uneccessary scenes thrown me off sometimes, and made it a little bit harder to understand the story. But when we put on the show it helped me understand the whole point of the play and what they play was really about.

1. This project relates to the real world when it comes to architecture if you want to become an architect and build buildings you have to know perimeter and area. If you want to become a carpenter and have to patch up a ceiling you have to know the perimeter and area of the whole. Or if you want to redesign the outside of the house and you want to take away some windows or add windows you need to know the are and perimeter of the space where your doing that work.
2. I would have to say the most exciting part of this project was going outside because it’s always good to go outside to get fresh air instead of staying in a stuffy room the whole time. I also like being able to draw the picture of our buildings. It was fun because I was able to express myself in the drawings and showoff my wonderful artistic talent, as you can see in the picture above.

3. I learned how to figure out the height of the building besides just measuring it the regular way. there are numerous ways to measure the height of a building. You could use the mirror method which is placing a mirror on the ground in front of the building and looking into the mirror until u see the top of the building. Then you measure how many feet you are away from the building and how many feet the building is away from the building. Then you solve a proportion with the information you have. Another method I learned is the picture method which is when you use someone or something and see how many of them does it take to get the height of the building. You measure that that someone or something and multiply the height by how many of them get it takes to get the height of the building.

This podcast tells a story how 23 year old African American, went through life totally standing out from the rest of the world.

“What are you trying to say?”

By: Jordyn Randall

“Hand me that jawn right there” I said.

“ What does that word mean?” My new classmate asked.

Starting in the sixth grade, I went to a middle school in the suburbs, Havertown to be exact. Before that, I went to Overbrook Elementary in  West Philadelphia. This school was mostly black when I was in pre-school and kindergarten, but as the years went on we became more diverse. Either way, everybody was from the same area so everybody spoke the same. I was very comfortable.

  During my first year in my middle school it took a while for me to get adjusted to this new environment, and the way they spoke. Having previously come from a city grade school, I wasn’t entirely comfortable and  was often misunderstood. I used slang words that were common for me, but were different to my classmates, like a foreign language. Words like “salty”, “drawlin” and “jawn”. They hadn’t heard words like these before, so when I used them they were confused and would stare at me with confused faces. I would have to stop what I was saying and explain the word. They too, also used words or phrases that I couldn’t understand, I would ask what they meant. Phrases like “ You just got owned” , were new to me, but were apart of everyone elses daily conversation. I would also laugh at them when they said things like this because I thought they sounded like weirdos. Then it thought maybe they thought the same thing about me.

“ Scott, look at you being salty.”

“ Oh now you gonna start using my words.”

In the beginning we had to explain to each other what we were trying to say, but eventually we started talking more and they started using the words that I used. 

Things changed again when I transitioned to high school.

“ GOOD JOB SYMONE!!”

“Why do you sound like that?”

“ Like what?”

“A little kid.”

“I don’t know?”

When I left my middle school and came to SLA a lot people told me that I sounded like a nerd and a little kid. During basketball games and practices, I would cheer for my team or call a play and people would always say I sound like a little kid. I’d always reply: “Oh well I cant help the way I talk it’s better than talking like an old woman.”

My sister always mocked me jokingly in a nerd voice.

“I want some cookies.” I said.

“I want some cookies.” said Martina in a high squeaky voice like Urkel.

  I never thought that I really sounded much like a nerd. That is until i heard my voice recorded, and wondered “who is that??”. I always sounded totally different in my head. I always thought my voice was deeper than the way everybody described it.

“Why every time I bring up boxing, a white man always gotta bring up Rocky Mashiana...Rocky Mashiana, Rocky Mashiana.” I said.

“HA HA HA HA HA HA...Jor why you say it like that?” said Martina. 

“Because that’s how he sound when he says it.” said Jordyn.

Sometimes I like my voice because I say certain sentences funny from movies, from singing a song or just while having a conversation. I like it because I love making people laugh. 

“Hello my name is Jordyn Randall and I am here to talk about Teen Topics.” I said in class one day.

“Let’s play it back” said Ms. Dunn.

“EWWWWWWW I sound nasty on record, I hate my voice.” I said.

There are times I don’t like my voice like when I hear my self on record, and It sounds like a high pitch and squeaky nerdy voice. It doesn’t affect me that much but it does bother me just a little.

My relationship between language and power is that language has a lot to do with power by what you say and how you say it. I think me personally, it has to do with power because of the fact that my voice is so high and squeaky nobody will listen to me compared to someone with a much stronger, deeper and more demanding voice.

My language may tell a lot of people where I’m from because only certain cities say certain words. In Chicago they say “gunnin” which means to be joking on somebody, in Atlanta they say “juke joint” which is a dance club in Atlanta and in Philly we say “jawn” which is a object. So you can tell a lot about where a person is from just by their accent and the words they use. 

“It goes without saying then, that language is also a political instrument, means, and proof of power. It is most vivid and crucial key to identity: It reveals the private identity and connects one with, or divorces one from, the larger, public, or communal identity. There have been, and are, times, and places, when to speak a certain language could be dangerous, even fatal. Or, one may speak the same language, but in such a way that one’s antecedents are revealed, or (ones hopes) hidden.”- “If Black Isn’t a Language Then Tell Me What Is” By James Baldwin.

I agree a lot with this quote because language is a political instrument, there are certain things you have to say and theres a certain way you have to say it.  For example, the president, wouldn’t be the president if he didn’t say the right things, like speaking correct english and talking in a demanding but nice tone. I think it also does have a lot to do with your identity, it’s sad to say but people can tell a lot about you by the way you talk. You can tell by your accents so they know what part of the world your from, the way you say certain words or the grammer you use, so they know what social class your in. I also agree that it can be dangerous to use a certain language or talking a certain way can be dangerous. If you go to another town they may make fun of the way you talk or they may not like the way you talk because they don’t like the place where your from so that could be dangerous. It can also be the same for languages.

With your language or the way you speak "You have confessed your parents, your youth, your school, your salary, your self-esteem, and, alas, your future.” - If Black Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is? By James Baldwin.

                                  Monologue

Rican Girl

By: Jordyn Randall 

I want my hair done straight. Washed and blow-dried.

What? I don’t understand what you’re saying.

No really, I don’t speak spanish.

It’s ok. Yeah, a lot of people think I’m spanish because of my light skin and long curly hair. I’m really all black. I’m not mixed with anything.

What, you don’t believe me? Yeah, nobody does. Earlier this week, I was walking downtown with my friends and we heard this group of boys yelling “YERP!! YO RICAN IN THE BLUE!!” I was trying to figure out who he was talking to because none of us were rican and i was the only one wearing blue. Me and my friends laughed it off and kept walking. Then I glanced in a window of one of the buildings and thought “ Wow I really do look puerto rican today”. Even though it wasn’t just that day, it seemed to be everyday.

Wow this dryer is really hot.

That’s better.

But...I have the same problem with my friends sometimes. One time, at my first basketball game of the season, one of my teammates was telling me how she wanted to meet my mom and my sister. She was looking through the crowd and pointed out this spanish lady and asked me if that was my mom. I looked at her puzzled and said “NO!”. I pointed out my sister and mom and she said “ Why are they black and you’re spanish?”. I told her that I wasn’t spanish or adopted just all black. Then she saw how I resemble my mom. 

Oh...I want my part on the right side.

Yea right there’s good.

It also happened earlier today when I was walking to the corner of my school's block to catch the 65 to pick my little sister, Jaylen, up from school. When I got to her school I saw her talking to her friend. I over heard her friend ask her who I was. Jaylen said I was her big sister.

She asked " How? She's much lighter than you. Are one of you adopted?" 

Jaylen told her " No she's light like my dad and I'm dark like my mom." I called her over to tell her that it's time to go. I asked her what she and her friend were talking about she said " I hate that nobody never thinks we are sisters even though we actually do look alike, they always look at the difference in our skin colors. I told her that I agreed and that it gets on my nerves too. It seems like people always look at color before anything else.

Oh I’m done. How much?

Here’s 24 and 5 for the tip. 

Thanks for the conversation. See you later Bye.

This last blog post is giving information on if there is awareness being done on our issue and give opinions on ways to change.

There are not many organizations that are raising awareness on unemployment. Although President Barack Obama’s budget plan is supposed to give states a way to gather more insurance taxes from businesses to provide the unemployment-insurance program.

      The unemployment insurance program is a joint federal-state program. The federal unemployment insurance tax rate of 6.2% on the new, larger base would be lowered so that the U.S. would be taking in more credit than it does under the system they use now.

There is also an organization called The Unemployment Help Center. It is a “private organization committed to helping unemployed Americans to find what services and programs suitable for them.  They say if your unemployed your in a good spot for exploring your educational opportunities, new health insurance options, new debt consolidation and mortgage assistance, among other things.” On this website there will be a form to fill out that will connect you with proper providers to search for opportunities for you. They say that it is not an application for unemployment insurance. After you fill out the form they will give you a link for your unemployment insurance office.

Even Philadelphia has unemployment project called the Philadelphia Unemployment Project. It has been around since 1975, it has put together the poor and unemployed to fight for economic justice, bringing distinct groups to bring out huge changes that help millions of unemployed people. They help people win unemployment cases, get healthcare, save their houses and a coach that will help them search for a job. This organization is located

·       112 N. Broad Street, 11th Floor

·       Philadelphia, PA 19102.

In conclusion there are a lot of organizations for people who are unemployed.  I feel these organizations will be really helpful to a lot of people. These organizations show that unemployed and working people can be a compelling voice in fighting for economic justice for the city, state and nation. I want to raise awareness by giving out brochures to the teens about unemployment so they can get a job now and be ready for the future.

Go here for my bibliography.

Go here for more information.               

Go here for information on youth programs. 

      Hi are you sitting at home wondering what you want to do for the rest of your life? Just graduated college and don’t know what you want to do next? Well I definitely know how you feel. Hi my name is Jordyn Randall and Im in the 9^th grade. I’ve been thinking a lot about what job I would want to have now, my future and what I want to do after high school and even college. But I found out that its not easy to find a job and that there are 13.9 million people unemployed.

       In The major worker groups, the unemployment for adult men ( 7.5%), adult women ( 7.4%), teenagers ( 24.9%), whites ( 7.4%), and Hispanics ( 10.3%) showed hardly any change in April, although the rate for blacks ( 13.0%) declined over a month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 5.2% in April. This information hasn’t been shocking but considering that my race is the highest unemployed is disappointing but makes me want to strive to not be in this category.

I believe that some of this unemployment has something to do with taxation. Businesses pay more taxes in the U.S. than any where in the world. Many businesses are being truly crushed by this, which is also chasing businesses out of the country. Barack Obama has just proposed  a boost in unemployment taxes. I feel that this is going to make businesses not want to hire more employees.

There is a such thing as unemployment benefits though. Unemployment benefits are payments made by the state to unemployed people. Depending on the authority and the status of the person. The amount of money may be small, covering only central needs, also known as welfare. In some countries a proportion of unemployment benefits are divided by labor unions.

 After doing all this research I feel copying more money will get rid of all our problems because if people have more money they will buy more things and businesses will have more money. I also feel that we should just keep the prices of everything the same instead of raising the prices of things every year. I don’t think we should do both because that wouldn’t be to good for businesses.

   You in The World Project

Our English class project is called You and the World. This project is for us to get interested in events that are current and research information about an issue and tell others about it so we can educate ourselves and other people. We have to post our information on our blog and debate about our topics with the class.

My issue is how hard it is to found a job. There are alot less job openings in the U.S. today. The number of job openings in U.S. declined again in December. There was a decline in the economy, it was usually 4.5 to 5 million open jobs in America, now there are only 3 million. The U.S. economy is supplying an extremely low number of jobs. The government said that there were only 36,000 jobs added in January. Although an upgrade 150,000 jobs per month is enough just to keep up with our population growth. We begin to fall farther and farther behind.

All across the nation, state and local governments are swiftly cutting jobs. Government jobs use to be considered some of the safest jobs accessible, but now all government jobs local and state are facing terrible budget crunches. Actually it has gotten so serious that some cities are cutting their police forces by up to 50 percent.

Recent college grads are having a hard time finding a job.  Today’s graduates understand how bad the economy is now and how hard it will be to land their first meaningful job. Those who graduated between 2006-2008, their salary was $30,000 but for recent grads it has dropped to $27,000. According to Kate Helfrich a graduate from Case Western Reserve University, says “ I’m definetley feeling a little anxiety regarding the loan payment. You hear about programs that offer loan repayment and sign on bonuses, I don’t feel like we’ve seen that as much since the recession hit.” Bridget Coyle, who is also a graduate, wants to be a social worker, but this desolating unemployment rate is making it extremely tough. Besides this she is still very confident.

One idea of reducing unemployment is to break the cycle. There are many ways to break it.  One way is to provide government funding to companies who are becoming bankrupt. Another is get involved in technology because that is now in demand of our industry.

Bibliography:

Video, Slim Job Growth In April

Click here for more information.

 Click here for my bibliography.

Hola! Me llamo Jordyn. Yo soy alto mas o menos, delgada, guapa, sociable, comica, divertida. Yo soy inteligente, deportista, extrana, habladora, y talentosa. Yo soy de Filadelfia, una ciudad de Nueva York y la capital, Es una ciudad bastante grande. Se concoce como “ La Ciudad de Amor Fraternal”. Yo soy Africano Americana. Me gusta de compras, pasar un rato con amigos, practicar deportes, ver la tele. Me gusta cantar, bailar, dromir, escuchar música, ir al cine, comer, y relajar. Me gusta es la comida Italiana. No gusta es la comida china. Me gusta el deporte el balencesto. No me gusta el deporte el futbol. Me gusta la música clásica. 

,Sinceramente,

         Jordyn Randall