Bibliography

Bellows, Barbara. N.p.. Web. 30 Jan 2014. <https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/viewhtml.php?id=59>.

Provides real numbers in terms of light transmission based on the type of glazing (walls of the greenhouse). It also gives some information on the temperature certain plants live in, so we can plants seeds based on the temperature that can be accomplished in the greenhouse. Along with that, it also covers the other areas of greenhouse building such as in insulation, solar orientation, and etc.

Poly-Tex: Greenhouse & Display Systems. N.p.. Web. 30 Jan 2014. <http://www.poly-tex.com/>.

            This website is useful for its many greenhouse designs. It offers inspiration to go off of into creating our own design. Poly-Tex also sells greenhouse kits, so it includes a materials list with every greenhouse. That shows us the necessities for every successful greenhouse as well as some cool things we can incorporate into our design such as wiggle wire, which is a solution in holding 2 or more pieces of plastic sheeting together.

Ross, David S.. N.p.. Web. 30 Jan 2014. <http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/hortcult/greenhou/building.htm>.

            Information on planning and designing the greenhouse. It gives advice on location, foundation/floors, ventilation, heating, cooling, watering systems, and much more. We will need this source to plan our designs effectively and create a well-functioning greenhouse.

"Greenhouse Types and Structures." Yavapai College. N.p.. Web. 30 Jan 2014. <http://faculty.yc.edu/ycfaculty/ags250/week04/greenhouse_types_and_structures/Greenhouse_types_and_structures_print.html>.

Focused towards the structure of greenhouses. They explain what should be taken into consideration when designing through an engineer’s standpoint. It includes weighing light transmission and heat insulation to be costly effective all around.

"Talking rubbish – Turning trash into treasure." Making Sense of Things. WordPress, 14 11 2011. Web. 30 Jan 2014. <http://makingsenseofthings.info/2011/11/talking-rubbish/>.

An article about sustainable living in a Palestine. They reused recyclable materials in order to create a self-sustainable greenhouse, and how they reused other types of waste which basically emphasizes the title “turning trash into treasure”.

"Greenhouse Elements." Just Greenhouses: a hay needle store. N.p.. Web. 30 Jan 2014. <http://www.justgreenhouses.com/greenhouse-supplies/greenhouseelementsarticle.cfm>.

            Information about maintaining the soil in order to maximize plant growth. In the source includes solutions if the pH of the soil is more basic or more acidic, so it can be neutral again. Tells why plants in greenhouses require less water than plants grown outside. It also emphasizes the importance of circulation and control for humidity.

The Greenhouse Catalog: Your Year-Round Gardening Source. N.p.. Web. 30 Jan 2014. <http://www.greenhousecatalog.com/>.

            An online store where materials for greenhouses are sold. This gives a greater insight on what materials are out there and what we can and should use.

Solar Heater. YouTube, 2008. Web. 30 Jan 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqObr-M39Ug>.

            One way to reduce costs and save $300 for a heater, we can reuse metal cans, spray paint them black and then put them in an enclosed box with a glass on top. Black absorbs all all the colors and generates heat. That heat can then be transferred into the greenhouse and contribute to raising the temperature in order to make the greenhouse sustainable during colder temperatures.

Whitman, Ann , The National Gardening Association, and Suzanne DeJohn. Organic Gardening For Dummies. 2nd Ed. For Dummies, 2009. print.

            Organic gardening book for beginners. Provides basic gardening skills, explains the dynamic of soil and how to keep it healthy, teaches how to compost, how to manage pests, and etc. Basically, this book provides everything we would need to know in order to have a successful garden.

"Greenhouse For Less Than $100?!?" Fabulessly Frugal A Coupon Blog Sharing Amazon Deals Printable Coupons DIY How to Extreme Coupon and Make Ahead Meals. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.

One of the biggest challenges with building the greenhouse is the cost of materials so we need to find a more cost efficient way to build it. This source is very helpful in choosing cheaper ways to construct a greenhouse that will perform the same as one that someone would pay close to a thousand dollars for around one hundred dollars.

http://www.hgtv.com/topics/greenhouses/index.html?layout=desktop

"Greenhouses." How To Build a Greenhouse | Tips for Creating Your Own Greenhouse. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.

This source provides multiple designs that focus on personal preference of the plants we want to grow in the greenhouse since every greenhouse is not built for the same reason it will help us in deciding on our final design.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZooEVu4JhI

"Heating Your Greenhouse." YouTube. YouTube, 05 Jan. 2012. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.

This video is explaining something that will be very important in our design. Heating the greenhouse so that plants will be able to grow in the colder weather. This is important so that we expand our growing ability to the whole year instead of a few months a year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REFdF6z9aYk

"Insulating Your Greenhouse." YouTube. YouTube, 26 Dec. 2012. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.

This video focuses on the insulation of greenhouses and since we are working on a tight budget we have to cheap ways that will work in making the greenhouse successful. This means we will have to use a good material that traps heat inside the greenhouse since it will be in the sun all day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlEczaE0-eg

"Insulating Your Greenhouse." YouTube. YouTube, 26 Dec. 2012. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.

This video explains how to construct double walled insulation which is 2 thin pieces of plastic that will cover the greenhouse. The plastic will be about an inch apart an air pump will constantly pump air into the space between the plastic pieces causing it to stay about 3 times warmer in the greenhouse during the colder seasons.

"Irrigation & Watering." Greenhouse Megastore. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2014. <http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/category/irrigation-watering>.

This site sells a bunch of different products that we can use to water our plants automatically so that it will be considered self sustaining so that it wont require constant attention but will still give us great growth results.

"Rainwater Capture on a Greenhouse." YouTube. YouTube, 31 May 2011. Web. 30 May 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kN_hyHoKhg>.

This video is explaining the use of a rain capture for a greenhouse which collects rainwater and uses it to water the plants. This is very helpful for us since we want it to be self sustaining we wont have to worry about making sure the pumps always have water during the seasons that have a lot of rain.

"Greenhouse Growing: Tips for Basic Greenhouse Cultivation." Mother Earth News. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2014. <http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/greenhouse-growing-cultivation-zmaz11zsto.aspx>.

This site provides tips for for growing in an indoor environment like a greenhouse. It is helpful because we need to know how to treat the plants since we are new to gardening it also explains what plants grow the best during certain seasons.

"Tending a Greenhouse." How to Grow in a Greenhouse: Organic Gardening. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2014. <http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/tending-greenhouse>.

This site breaks down the process into steps that explains how we should construct the greenhouse and how temperature regulation is very important to the health of the plants since we want to make the greenhouse be functioning all year round the temperature inside will be one of our biggest challenges.

"How to Maintain a Greenhouse." WikiHow. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2014. <http://www.wikihow.com/Maintain-a-Greenhouse>.

This site explains the steps that are nessecary to keep the plants alive on their own and since we wont be able to tend to them everyday we need a good way to be sure they stay healthy.It also exlains how we will have to choose smart plants that can grow in the same cimate since the greenhouse will all be the same temperature.

"The GreenHouse Catalog." Helpful Greenhouse Information. © Copyright 2013 Corrugated Plas-Tech, Inc.. Web. 31 Jan 2014. <http://www.greenhousecatalog.com/greenhouse-information>.

In this website is helpful because it tells you all the important things that need to be put into a greenhouse in order for it to work and grow all the plants properly. It speaks on the heating, watering, ventilation and everything that has to be set in order for it to work and grow. The amount you give it and how long it is given to the plants.

. Greenhouse Information. © Copyright 2013 Corrugated Plas-Tech, Inc.. Web. 31 Jan 2014. <http://www.advancegreenhouses.com/Greenhouse Information.htm>.

This website lets you know of the different types of greenhouses and which ones work the best compared to the others. Also speaks about the benefits and the reasons that they are used the way they are used. It also speaks on the different types of kits and materials that are used in order to make it all run and work.

"Greenhouse Growing." Greenhouse Gardening Advice. © Copyright 2013 Corrugated Plas-Tech, Inc.. Web. 31 Jan 2014. <http://www.greenhouses.net/>.

This blog has a post on anything and everything you might need to know when making the greenhouse.

http://ohiofloriculture.osu.edu/sites/drupal-ohioflori.web/files/file/greenhouse-energy-savings-part-II.pdf

This website provides many energy saving tips in order to maximize the greenhouse’s efficiency.

Our plan was to create awareness about how school district budget cuts are going to affect students in the future, but in a way that will urge people to act against it. We came up with a couple ideas for a few components that we could use and then split them up. One of the components was to make a PSA and I chose that because I had a whole bunch of ideas that could’ve been easily implemented into one.  The one I chose was derived from belief I found on the Internet that really had me worried for the future; school being a burden to people. By that I came up with the idea of having a PSA showing how school is really going to suck in the future without sports, extracurricular activities, still using outdated technology, having bigger classrooms, possibly having robots for teachers, and etc.

My perceived challenges in the beginning were getting the PSA seen, as well as making the PSA effective instead of cheesy. I know my current PSA might sound cheesy now, but there’s factual information in there, and could really do the job of spreading the awareness because I don’t think parents remember all that well about how school was, or how it is currently for this generation, but it will give them a good perspective of how bad it could get.  So in a way, it’s a success. However, another challenge came up through the process of everything, my group started at a slow start, which brought us behind so I had to pick up the weight before it got really bad. 

​

This year, my English and History teacher, Mr. Block, has brought up many world issues that changed my views on the world. Also, he has taught many subjects which I didn’t know about fully or correctly. It’s the end of the year and our last project is to create a final portfolio that shows at least two general understandings about some of the things he taught us and we found out ourselves also then incorporate quotes from our work to support it. My two general understandings are that social inequality will always accompany humanity, and that there’s always another side to a story.

Social inequality has many subcategories to it other than just race, there’s also wealth, power, and etc. In English, we explored a website that gave me a completely new understanding about race. Your race shows opportunities you have, it gives first impressions about your personality to certain people, and it divides people into their own group. Although, you can’t classify someone’s race by skin color, fingerprints, or blood type because race isn’t biological.  In my history journal talking about race, I followed the quote from Mr. Block which was, “race is a social construction” (English journal #26), and then I figured out what he meant when I read on about race on the website. Race has just begun not so long ago because in ancient times, people weren’t divided into groups of race; there were groups of people’s wealth and class. Racism started when slavery became very popular in the US and all the slaves were all African. Many people would discriminate and stereotype people based on their race. This kind of inequality won’t end because just like I posted in a forum discussion about race in our English class, “There are many racists in the world and they raise their children that way, too.” From the same forum, I created another post from which I took from saying, “I read on and figured out that the only cure for racism is FULL equality. There would have to be sacrifices for some groups to even things out. Then I thought...Not everybody is going to sacrifice things in their hard-earned life for other people." (Race: The power of illusion moodle forum)

Another kind of inequality is the division of three classes of wealth during the French Revolution; the commoners, clergy, and nobility. The commoners were the poorest and had the biggest population, whereas the clergy and nobility were the richest and were very little in population. In history journal #27, I wrote a poem in which I created an analogy that compared the current US’s wealth class and the wealth class of France during the French Revolution. “Clergy and Nobility are to the 1%, as the commoners are to the 99%” (History Journal #27). In this unit, not only have I learned about the French revolution, but also that social inequality still remains as if revolutions never happened. There’s still a huge gap of the amount of rich and poor people. Also, I learned that skin color doesn’t make a difference. You can have white skin, but be African-American just like Clare in the book we read during this unit also called Passing. Clare had a racist husband who never knew that she was black, and loved her until he found out. It’s not the skin color you should judge, but their personality if you actually get to know the person.

My other general understanding is that there’s always another side to a story no matter how good or bad the main character can be. Throughout the year, we took part in 2 mock trials. One trial was about the age of exploration with Cortes, his men, King Charles V, the Aztecs, and the system of empire. Everyone was charged with something, and we were be split up into groups for each person and defend ourselves with the sources we had and found ourselves online. With everyone having a fault and more than one person to put the blame on, it was easier to be proven less guilty. I was in the Cortes group and immediately I knew all the blame was going to be put on my group. So my main goal was to put the blame on others. My job was to create the opening statement, and in the process I really felt like a lawyer defending my client. I wrote it as if Cortes isn’t at fault of anything because he was forced into his decisions, basically sugarcoating everything against him and what his actions were. I got so deep into it that I started believing this other side of the story and no long saw him as the bad person. For example, here’s one of the ways I blamed another person and made Cortes look good; “When Cortes was accused of killing 400 Indians, he only did it under self-defense. The Tlaxcalans are to blame for, too because they decided to help Cortes and also fight him, while Cortes only fought back in self-defense.” (Opening statement from Cortes Trial)

The other mock trial was about sweatshops. Just like the Cortes trial, the multinational corporations, poor country ruling elite, poor country workers, US consumers, and the system of profit were all charged with something against them. Again, I was put into the group that everybody was going to attack, and I took the same position in writing the opening statement. “We didn’t force them to work at our factories, they had options in life on how they could make a living and they chose to work in a factory.” (Opening statement from sweatshop trial) This was one of the ways we defended ourselves in the opening statement to prevent from the other groups blaming us for this.

This whole year has been not only a direct learning experience, where Mr. Block has taught us about all the different issues, but he gave a lot of room for letting us learn on our own. The learning “experience” has definitely let me experience and learn these new things in a more and effective way. For example, as I would research for a project online, I constantly ran across new information that I found really interesting and shared it with the class afterwards. Beside all the weeks and months of non-stop work, it was worth it. I feel more confident about my knowledge, and I'm not afraid to actually speak up with giving the correct history of things. Also, this class molded me into a different person understanding the world issues and acting to be the small change.

I love when the funniest things come unexpectedly. My friends, Ben, Andrew, and I were all in my dining room making our own video series that we brilliantly thought of to upload on YouTube. The videos were based on a class setting, and students making up funny excuses on why they didn’t do or forgot to do their homework. We would do this almost every other day when we would get enough excuses to put in a video. Although, today was different, my friends forgot their list of excuses at home so we decided to record a different kind of video. Not to be racist, but since Ben was Asian we wanted to make a random kung-fu fighting episode. Ben and Andrew take out all their stuff from their pockets and set them on a table. Andrew, by the way, is taller and bigger than Ben by about seventy pounds and eight inches. To tell you the truth I didn’t know what was going to happen, it was all improvised and not even thought out. Seconds later, the fight started… Andrew leaned in for an attack, but Ben’s quick senses stopped and countered the slow attack with a swift 360 degree spin to his left and BACKHANDED Andrew to the light-colored hardwood floor where he got knocked out! All it took him was one move to take down someone way bigger than him! And I got it all on camera! It was a funny day, and Andrew woke up about 10 minutes later.

The most boring English class I’ve ever been in. In eighth grade our teacher, Ms. Parks, made us read a really long story in the old torn up textbooks we had. That was normal for us, but what made it boring was the whole room being quiet except hearing classmates read aloud in monotone, messing up words, and reading unusually slow. Half the class was asleep and I was almost there. Out of nowhere, I began to think to myself about anything and everything. Where then I thought about a dog eating homework and how I hear that in movies all the time. It finally hit me; I started thinking of ironic and hilarious excuses that nobody ever thought of. I wanted to introduce the idea so badly. “Ben!” I screamed quietly. “Yeah?” he asked.

“You want to make some YouTube videos?”

“About what?”

From there we planned meetings and had a goal to make a total of 101 excuses. That’s how we came up with the name “101 Excuses For Not Doing Our Homework”. It’s a simple title but we all agreed on it. We also asked around the school if they wanted to be a part of the “classroom”. We didn’t really get much people and we never reached our goal. Although, we had so much fun doing this, and it gave every boring class something for us to do when we finished our work!

These are just some of the great times my friends and I making a YouTube video series. They are connected because they both happened 2 weeks apart, and without making the series the backhand would’ve never happened. I remember when almost everyone in my school knew about our series and they liked it, and when I showed the kung-fu video to my friends and my teacher at school they all laughed hysterically.

I guess we stopped because summer was over and we didn’t see each other as often as we went our own ways to different high schools. Ninth grade past by, and now we’re both in tenth grade, I still wonder when we’re going to get together again, we had a goal... Goals should be achieved, and in life .

So, Keystone XL pipeline. (Angry) Why doesn't anyone see the good in this? All people look at is the bad. Even some other members of Congress are against this. (Easing tone) I mean people underestimate that TransCanada and us have a plan to keep this as clean as possible. We have monitors running for oil leaks 24/7, 365 days a year if that's what they're worried about. That's not all though; this will create about 100,000 jobs. (Excited) People will finally work again and stop freeloading off our money. Available jobs can put people out of poverty. With the pipelines coming, we can then transport oil through it to a refinery in Texas. Don’t tell me that you would rather get our oil from overseas like the Middle East… We trust Canada more. (Excited) Now best of all, with the profit we make, we can work towards paying our huge debt off and rebuilding our economy. How can you argue with that? Don’t listen to environmentalists, all they do is scare people and look at the outdated plan that we already perfected. Like who does that? (Really hostile, aggressive) SO TRUST US ON THIS! DON’T LISTEN TO ANYBODY! WE WANT MONEY! (Play it off)...I’m sorry about that, I don’t know what came across me. Sometimes I wonder about Americans though; they use up all this energy but don’t like the way that we get most of it. Why don’t they cut down their use? It’s all right though; I hope you see that this plan is as genius as how we see it. You’re with me right? (Aggressive, hostile) RIGHT?

Job Opening?

I just found out there’s a possible job opening for about 100,000 people. (Excited) I’m so psyched! I’ve been unemployed for a little over a year. (Worried) I can’t live off unemployment and my wife’s money. It’s a job for a proposed pipeline that will need workers to install it. Online, it said that there can be an environmental problem with this, but what can you do? If you see something up for grabs and you really need it, wouldn’t you take it? Or you would pass it up for another job? (Worried) Maybe it is a bad idea; I would be one of the people responsible for the climate change caused by this crazy idea to connect a pipeline from Canada to Texas. People would be without clean drinking water, wildlife would die, and I would be breaking the earth. But then if I don’t take the job, someone else will. Leaving my family and I closer to being broke. What do I do?! What do I do?! What if this is the only job opportunity I have? What if I do take this job but I don’t do it right?! I would be responsible for spills and other things affected from that. Then again, I could help bring more oil into the US, so we could be more independent on foreign oil. Now, 1:30 in the afternoon in my own living room, I can sense myself turning psycho. I maybe really am psyched… So, without asking you, I will make my own decision and not apply for the job. (Has it all figured out tone) I’m sure there are plenty of other jobs that are open. I mean I didn’t go to college, but that doesn’t mean I still can’t. Besides, what if the proposal doesn’t go through?

They Don't Care About The Earth

It seems like some people don’t care about the climate change problem that we are facing, and how beautiful our environment should be kept. There is a plan now to make an addition to an already existing pipeline called “Keystone XL”. This pipeline will start from Alberta, Canada and go through Saskatchewan, Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska to Texas. It’s going to be used to transport 800,000 barrels of tar sand oil everyday. This pipeline is underground too! Oil spills in our soil can ruin many crops. (Aggressive tone, slam table) Doesn’t congress know that? How do they not think about this? They’re creating jobs, but in the meantime putting people out of them. Oil spills can even affect drinking water. What about all the energy needed to transport those pipelines to where they need to be, the energy needed to dig the dirt to put the pipelines in, and then having to bury it again? I am most certainly against this! I’m always on my computer reading more about this, and the list of bad effects this has keeps getting bigger. Also, I’m protesting about this every chance I get because this proposal can be passed anytime. Now think about all the resources we’re going to be using! The pipeline stretches almost 2,000 miles long, and is 36in in diameter. Do we even have that many resources? That’s right; just ruin the environment to ruin it even more! Here’s another point I want to bring up; the pipeline goes through an active seismic zone, so it’s very likely for the pipeline to crack or leak. (Interested tone, look in the eyes) So tell me this; would you let this go through?

There’s a picture hung up in my dining room. The sky is slightly cloudy yet light blue and it looks like the sun is setting. There are a few opaque clouds letting the sun shine a radiant orange, but the sun is painted white. Below the sun, in the background of the picture are distant blue mountains. They seem small because in the front of the picture are houses blocking the right side of the mountains.

They are old multi-colored wooden houses standing on an actual dock. Both houses are wide in the front and slim on the side. The house farther away is very small and has 2 windows on the front, right below a brown roof and 1 on the side of the house. The body of the house is painted white but has aged, so it’s a dirtier white and almost tan. The house which is closer to the front is taller, by almost half of the smaller house. The roof of this house is painted the same color as the middle of the mountains, a light blue, and the body is painted the same as the smaller house, which is white.

From the bottom of the mountains to the bottom of the picture, is calm water. The water has a beautiful color to it due to the sunset spectrum. There are 2 sailboats parked at the dock and the water behind them is a sea blue because it’s the shadow of the boats. They are rather old and look like they have been there for a long time because there is a lot of bird poop on them. The wooden sails on both of the boats stand taller than the blue-roofed house, and the colors of the boats are dirty white also.

In the lower left-hand corner of the picture is a small island-like dock to park boats. It is  made out of grey rocks and 3 short wooden tree logs coming out of the ground to tie the rope of the boat on. This picture is like a glance of vacation to somewhere far away from home, so relaxing.

I love when the funniest things come unexpectedly. My friends, Ben, Andrew, and I were all in my dining room making our own video series that we brilliantly thought of to upload on YouTube. The videos were based on a class setting, and students making up funny excuses on why they didn’t do or forgot to do their homework. We would do this almost every other day when we would get enough excuses to put in a video. Although, today was different, my friends forgot their list of excuses at home so we decided to record a different kind of video. Not to be racist, but since Ben was Asian we wanted to make a random kung-fu fighting episode. Ben and Andrew take out all their stuff from their pockets and set them on a table. Andrew, by the way, is taller and bigger than Ben by about seventy pounds and eight inches. To tell you the truth I didn’t know what was going to happen, it was all improvised and not even thought out. Seconds later, the fight started… Andrew leaned in for an attack, but Ben’s quick senses stopped and countered the slow attack with a swift 360 degree spin to his left and BACKHANDED Andrew to the light-colored hardwood floor where he got knocked out! All it took him was one move to take down someone way bigger than him! And I got it all on camera! It was a funny day, and Andrew woke up about 10 minutes later.

The most boring English class I’ve ever been in. In eighth grade our teacher, Ms. Parks, made us read a really long story in the old torn up textbooks we had. That was normal for us, but what made it boring was the whole room being quiet except hearing classmates read aloud in monotone, messing up words, and reading unusually slow. Half the class was asleep and I was almost there. Out of nowhere, I began to think to myself about anything and everything. Where then I thought about a dog eating homework and how I hear that in movies all the time. It finally hit me; I started thinking of ironic and hilarious excuses that nobody ever thought of. I wanted to introduce the idea so badly. “Ben!” I screamed quietly. “Yeah?” he asked.

“You want to make some YouTube videos?”

“About what?”

From there we planned meetings and had a goal to make a total of 101 excuses. That’s how we came up with the name “101 Excuses For Not Doing Our Homework”. It’s a simple title but we all agreed on it. We also asked around the school if they wanted to be a part of the “classroom”. We didn’t really get much people and we never reached our goal. Although, we had so much fun doing this, and it gave every boring class something for us to do when we finished our work!

These are just some of the great times my friends and I making a YouTube video series. They are connected because they both happened 2 weeks apart, and without making the series the backhand would’ve never happened. I remember when almost everyone in my school knew about our series and they liked it, and when I showed the kung-fu video to my friends and my teacher at school they all laughed hysterically.

I guess we stopped because summer was over and we didn’t see each other as often as we went our own ways to different high schools. Ninth grade past by, and now we’re both in tenth grade, I still wonder when we’re going to get together again, we had a goal... Goals should be achieved, and in life everyone should have laughter and relaxation.

Thesis Statement: 

Analysis:

            In Act 1, Scene 7, Lady Macbeth tried to convince Macbeth to kill King Duncan tonight, and he is talking to himself alone on how to do it, but is still unsure if he wants to. Macbeth is talking to himself again, “If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well it were done quickly. If th’ assassination could trammel up the consequence, and catch with his surcease success, that but this blow might be the be-all and the end-all – here, but this here upon this bank and shoal of time, we’d jump the life to come.”(Act 1, Scene 7, lines 1-7) This reveals that he is strategizing how he is going to kill Duncan. Also, he is having regrets because he wants to be loyal instead of a traitor just like the previous Thane of Cawdor was. He is talking aside because he doesn’t want anyone else hearing the plot he has to kill King Duncan.

            In Act 2, Scene 1, King Duncan is asleep, the guards are drunk, and Macbeth is going to kill Duncan. Then, Macbeth is hallucinating and sees a dagger, but can’t grab it. He leaves it alone, pulls out his dagger and then goes to kill Duncan. Macbeth says, “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind.” This reveals that Macbeth is scared, but he wants to kill Duncan so he can become king and have more power.

            In Act 2, scene 2 of Macbeth,  Macbeth just killed King Duncan, and now he is hearing voices saying that he won’t sleep again because he killed an innocent person while they were sleeping. After Macbeth did the deed, he wasn’t thinking straight and was scared. Macbeth says, “Methought I heard a voice cry “Sleep no more!” Macbeth does murder sleep” – the innocent sleep.” This reveals that Macbeth is feeling guilty that he killed someone while they were sleeping. Macbeth is also conscious that he did something wrong, and is punishing himself mentally.

            In Act 3, scene 2 in Macbeth, Macbeth knows that Banquo has a suspicion towards him for the death of King Duncan. So Macbeth is going to hire murderers to kill Banquo. While Macbeth is talking to the murderers he says, “I’ll call upon you straight. Abide within. It is concluded. Banquo, thy soul’s flight, if it find heaven, must find it out tonight.” (Act 3, Scene 2, Lines 140-143) This reveals that Macbeth would go to the extent of killing his best friends to get power. Also, it reveals that Macbeth will somehow get what he wants when he wants it. This is different than killing Duncan because now he doesn’t want the blood of his own friend on his hands so he gets murderers to eliminate Banquo. This way he can eliminate another possible threat trying to take away his power as king.

            In Act 3, scene 4 in Macbeth, Lady Macbeth asked Macbeth if he was a man. He answered that he was a confident one that even horrifies the devil. Macbeth says,” Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that which might appall the devil.”(Act 3, Scene 4, Lines 60-61) This reveals that Macbeth knows that he is a courageous and scary person. It also means that he controls how he acts, he wasn’t controlled by something else. Macbeth changed on purpose so he wouldn’t feel the guilt when he murders someone.

            In act 4, scene 1 in Macbeth, Macbeth was just visited by the 3 apparitions, the witches’ masters. The first apparition said to fear Macduff. After his encounter with the apparitions Lennox told him that Macduff has fled to England. Now Macbeth is hiring murderers again to murder Macduff’s wife, kids, and everyone else in his castle. Macbeth says,” The castle of Macduff I will surprise, seize upon Fife, give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword his wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line.”(Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 172-174) This reveals that Macbeth is now killing people in an impulse without thinking because he believes the witches and he wants to make sure he covers all the bases. It even reveals that Macbeth is even more bloodthirsty.

             In act 4, scene 3 in Macbeth, Malcolm is ready to kill Macbeth once and for all with an army backing him up. Malcolm says,” Come, we go to the king. Our power is ready; our lack is nothing but our leave. Macbeth is ripe for shaking, and the pow’rs above.” (Act 4, Scene 3, Lines 236 – 238) This reveals that Malcolm has had enough of Macbeth murdering everybody. Also, Malcolm wants Macbeth to taste his own medicine.

            In act 5, scene 1 in Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking and couldn’t believe how Macbeth could be so evil and bloodthirsty because of all the people he killed. Lady Macbeth says, “Yet who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him?” (Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 37-40). This reveals that Lady Macbeth regrets making Macbeth kill Duncan in the first place because it is somewhat her fault that all these innocent people are being killed.

            In act 5, scene 8 in Macbeth, Macbeth is in the middle of a fight with Macduff. Macbeth would rather fight ‘til the end than surrender to Malcolm, and watch him become king. Macbeth says, “I will not yield to kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet.”(Act 5, Scene 8, Lines 27-30) This reveals that Macbeth doesn’t want to die, but knows that he will because he noticed that everything happened just like the 3 apparitions said he would die, Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane, fighting someone that wasn’t born from a woman, and to beware Macduff.

Conclusion:

            Macbeth should be thought as a loyal person, but people in his life influenced him for the bad now he stayed like that. These quotes supported the thesis because from the first quotes to the tenth, it is obvious that his personality has changed. The first quote says that he is wondering if fate will have him king without him not doing anything, but then in the second quote Lady Macbeth convinces him that he has to kill Duncan to be king. The quotes after the second show how his character doesn’t change back, but only gets worse and becomes bloodthirsty and greedy. Macbeth killed innocent people just to stay in power. Then, Macbeth killed Macduff’s wife and children because he was bloodthirsty. Shakespeare’s message about life could be that people would go to extreme measures to get what they want even if it means losing the important things in life.

“The First Time I Was Called A Hero”

            I’ve always dreamt of being a hero for a girl just like in movies. (Opener) What happened last summer was similar to that. It all happened in the suburbs of Allentown, Pennsylvania, where most of my cousins lived. I am the oldest in my generation, so I play with little kids when I visit them. Their names are Nick, Samir, Reshat, and Adrian and they are all boys.

            We all were at Samir’s house playing video games on his Xbox 360. It was really exciting because we were playing around and having fun since we didn’t see each other for weeks. 1:00 in the afternoon came, and we started getting bored. None of us had an idea of what game to play next. We turned it off and just went outside. I noticed my aunt walking into her house. It had been a while since I saw her. Zooming across the grass and my cousins following me, I conversed with her and caught up with new things happening in our lives. We then continued what we were doing. Adrian saw the soccer goals in his humungous backyard and he came up with the idea to play one on four, me on my own team to keep it fair. Reshat was about to get his soccer ball, and that’s when it all started.

            Everyone stopped moving and I just heard “LOOK!” (Dialogue)I looked in their direction to see a huge, tall, black, and husky Pit bull going at about forty miles per hour! It crossed the road and then aggravated Reshat. Possessively he asked “Why is it peeing on my tree?!?” (Dialogue) My uncle saw the dog too and called all of us to get inside. He went inside, too. Samir listened, but not Nick, Reshat, and Adrian. Reshat encouraged Nick and Adrian to chase the dog for no reason. I still find it confusing how my aunt was still there and she was yelling at the three kids to come back and leave the dog alone. Her voice was weak as she was. I noticed that they didn’t listen, and then I yelled so they would hear. At this point, I think they don’t care about what anyone tells them to do. The dog went in the backyard, and out of my sight. My cousins went in that direction racing across the dark green grass. I had no intention of chasing them; I think they were in the middle of a sugar rush … I’m not sure. As I witnessed them trying to chase the dog they got out of my sight. Seconds later, I saw the dog just appear out of thin air chasing them back trying to attack the four boys. My cousins racing their hearts out even more. I blanked out, and had no clue what to do. I could only hear the screaming and my aunt shouting for help. HELP!! HELP!! RUFF RUFF GRRRRR AAAAHHHH!!!! HELP!! HELP!! (Rep for Effect, Dialogue) So many things happened at the same time so soon.

            Reshat and Nick managed to get inside, but Adrian is cornered in-between the two air conditioners mounted to the side of Reshat’s house. Desperately he cried, “ROBERTO HELP ME!” (Dialogue). I had to do something! At that point I risked my life to possibly save his. Never in my life have I ever seen that look of vigilance on anyone’s face until this very moment. Somehow a little voice in my head told me to keep the dog in one place and calm it down temporarily. I held the dog back by its body right above its back legs, just enough to calm the vicious animal from clawing. I told Adrian to run away, but that didn’t do anything. It just made the situation worse. The dog turned its body and took a quick claw at my face then chased after Adrian like he was ball that his owner threw to play “fetch” with. (Simile) He got so scared, and trembled on the grass with fear and surrender. The dog became even more vicious. He started attempting to bite, and I still heard my aunt in the background trying to get help. It finally hit me; the dog had a collar on so I grabbed the dog by its collar. It was perfect. I was able to keep him in one place until my uncle came outside seconds later. He told me to slowly let it go. I started walking in the middle of the street to catch attention and started asking whose dog this was. It all happened so fast. Dogs are not always affectionate as they show up on TV to be and can be very defensive and violent. Also, they shouldn’t be messed with. (Realization) As I asked all the nearby neighbors in sight, I kept hearing the same answer, “Sorry that’s not my dog.” “I don’t know whose dog that is”. (Dialogue) At that point I felt hopeless. I thought if I let the dog go, it would attack me too. Luckily, a neighbor who is a dog owner offered me a leash to tie to the collar on the dog’s neck. My uncle ran towards me and helped tie the vicious beast to a tree nearby.

The neighbors called 911 and it was finally over! I heard Adrian was badly scratched on his face and body. As my whole family came outside, they noticed the situation and finally got the cops and the ambulance to come. The cops were writing out their report while the ambulance truck took Adrian away. Turns out he had several scratches on his face and body and they took him to the ER to make sure he didn’t have any infections or diseases. I had to be there for the police report to make up one of my biggest lies ever to the cops to make it look like it was the dog’s fault when it was clearly my cousin’s for chasing the dog in the first place. They actually bought it because I never lied that good in my whole life. The cops were able to get the owners, but I don’t understand how they didn’t get in any trouble from the damage the dog did to Adrian and not keeping the dog supervised letting it run free. I went inside my other uncle’s house to get the horrible dog smell away and wash my face. I didn’t know what to tell him so I gathered my emotions and told him about what happened in the calmest way I could. He immediately got up and bolted to Nick. (Nick is his son and he wanted to talk to him) Suddenly, my whole family came outside. My family is unusually large in quantity by the way so it was a huge crowd. They all kept asking, “What happened?!?” (Dialogue) It got annoying after awhile because I kept on repeating the story and answering their questions. This changed the whole day for me and everybody else. Out of all of the family members, my aunt was the most thankful because she knew if I wasn’t there, she couldn’t have done anything.  The rest of the day was too long. I also reeked of the dog’s smell that I couldn’t get rid of no matter how hard I tried. I took a shower and changed my clothes but I still smelled that distinct odor. I’m glad Adrian is okay though, he only had minor scratches and the dog didn’t have rabies. This experience was extremely adrenaline pumping and terrifying, but I still wouldn’t mind doing it again. As long as I’m saving a girl. (Closer)

This quarter, our benchmark is to compare the portrayals of Cyclopes on the Internet vs. how they were described in the book The Odyssey. In Greek mythology, Cyclopes are one-eyed giants. Cyclopes are interpreted and portrayed in so many different ways. You can sight the different ways they are portrayed by searching for images , or reading The Odyssey interpretations of Cyclopes. Although the portrayals of The Cyclops in The Odyssey, and in artwork are similar in appearance, the emotions conveyed in each version are different, which leads to different interpretations of this mythical creature.

In The Odyssey, the Cyclops described itself as fearless and extraordinarily strong. The Cyclops was saying that it is not afraid of the gods’ powers, and that the Cyclopes have more force than Zeus. “ ‘Stranger’, he grumbled back from his brutal heart, ‘you must be a fool, stranger, or come from nowhere, telling me to fear the gods or avoid their wrath! We Cyclops never blink at Zeus or Zeus’ shield of storm and thunder or any blessed god – we’ve got more force by far”. (Book 9, Lines 306-311). The Cyclopes in The Odyssey all use humungous clubs, or as Odysseus described it as huge as his ship. “ Here was the plan that struck my mind as best… the Cyclops’ great club: there it lay by the pens, olivewood, full of sap. He’d lopped it over to brandish once it dried. Looking it over, we judged it big enough to be the mast of a pitch-black ship with her twenty oars, a freighter broad in the beam that plows through miles of sea – so long, so thick it bulked before our eyes.” (Book 9, Lines 356-362) Judging by how massive the Cyclops’ club is, its body is even more monstrous. Also the Cyclopes’ have one eye, it is mentioned in the title of Book 9, “In The One-Eyed Giant’s Cave”. Lastly, in the Odyssey, the Cyclops was always mad when it was talking to Odysseus.

In artwork, the three Cyclopes downloaded from the Internet all are huge, strong, and imposing. In the second interpretation, the Cyclops is holding a large wooden club. In each artwork, each Cyclops has only one eye. Additionally, the emotion in each of their face is either calm and serene or happy. In the second and third artworks, the Cyclopes are interpreted as monsters, while in the first artwork, the Cyclops is portrayed as a man. The artworks are at the end of this document.

In both the artwork and the book, the way the Cyclops was portrayed and interpreted were both similar and different. They were different by their emotions given off, and are similar by their appearance. For example, they are all huge and strong, and all have one eye.  Also, by the similarity with them having a club. Although, they are different by their emotions because in the artworks they appear as calm, serene, and happy. Whereas in the book the emotions the Cyclopes give off to Odysseus are anger and hatred. These examples show that the interpretations are more similar than different.  The only way they are different is by their emotion, the Cyclops in The Odyssey is angry while the Cyclopes in artwork are neutral. What if Cyclopes were actually very different than what people portray them as if they really existed?

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Bibliography:

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http://opinionsandexpressions.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/cyclops1.jpg

This work of art I just finished reading is called The House of The Scorpion, written by Nancy Farmer. Nancy Farmer has written 6 other novels, and several picture books and short stories. For this book in particular, Nancy won 12 awards. They include "National Book Award", the "Newbery Honor" and the "Michael L. Printz Award For Excellence In Young Adult Literature".

            The main characters in the book are Matt, El Patrón, Maria, Celia, Tam Lin, The 3 Keepers, and the Lost Boys. Matt is a clone that has El Patrón’s DNA. El Patrón is the original Matteo Alacrán, and also a powerful drug lord. Maria is the younger daughter of Senator Mendoza. Celia is the chief cook and Matt’s caregiver. Tam Lin is a bodyguard for both El Patrón and Matt. The three keepers are named Raúl, Carlos, and Jorge, they take in Lost Boys and put them to work. The lost boys’ names are Chacho, Fidelito, Ton-Ton, and Flaco, their parents were arrested for crossing the border while they were left behind and took in by the Keepers.

In this story, Matt was born by El Patrón’s DNA being put into the womb of a cow and the cow giving birth to it. Celia has raised him as her own until one day when a couple kids enticed him to come and play outside. The door was locked so he broke the window and got out, only to find out that he cut his foot on shards of glass from the window. Moments later, he is in a big house with maids treating him. Everybody knows who he is and then calls him a monster because he is a clone. Rosa, a housekeeper, then let him sleep. The next day, he was put in a shed with hay all over the floor and fed daily, basically jailed.

After a long time, Celia found him and got him out. El Patrón came and met his clone for the first time. El Patrón punished Rosa by turning her into an eejit, a robot with a chip planted in their brain that only allows the robot to do 1 simple task. El Patrón leaves because he can’t stay in that house. To assure that Matt isn’t going to be harmed, El Patrón lets Matt choose one of his bodyguards, and he picks Tam Lin. Tam Lin watches him and teaches him to ride a horse after school with his own eejit as a teacher. As the story goes on, Matt hears bad things about El Patrón, but doesn’t believe it. It was until he found out that there were other clones of El Patrón and he used their body parts to keep El Patrón alive and live the lives that his brothers and sisters never had. Matt’s only option is to escape, but he knew it wouldn’t lead to freedom.

When the day for Matt to die came, the whole story turned by what Celia has done to Matt and sabotaged El Patrón’s plan. El Patrón dies and Tam Lin helps Matt escape by telling him what to do and where to go. Tam Lin even gave him a chest with books, water, and note. As Matt is escaping, the Border Patrol catches him so he explains to them a story, then they take him to the keepers. It is like an orphanage without getting to be adopted, where keepers look after the “orphans” as they feed them and give them work to do. Matt is friends with the other lost boys. There isn’t any hope for any of them because they can’t escape. This changes when Jorge, one of the keepers, starts to beat Ton-Ton, and the rest of the boys join and fight back against Jorge.

This results to Chacho and Matt being dumped in a hole of dead bodies. Chacho got hurt from the bones crushing him. They finally escape by climbing out of the whole. Then Ton-Ton and Fidelito came to them with the shrimp harvester and escaping with it. After a long ride to San Luis, the boys run into Guapo and Consuela. They offered to drive them to the hospital using the hovercar. At the hospital, the sisters then were treating him. As, Matt and Fidelito were walking to see Chacho, they noticed Ton-Ton mouthing “run” because the Keepers were there trying to take Chacho. The keepers saw Fidelito and Matt and they started gripping them up to bring them back to the plankton factory. Everyone was fighting back until Doña Esperanza came and cleared the whole fight up by getting Ton-Ton to tell the whole story why everyone was fighting.

The keepers were arrested because she knew they were trafficking drugs and used that against them. After all this, Doña Esperanza discusses with Matt about what he should do when he will be the new reigning drug lord. Matt is now back to Opium, where he now has to complete the mission Esperanza gave him.

            The type of conflict in this book is person vs society because the antagonists were all against Matt and the orphans for different reasons. One reason is because they escaped from the orphanage, and the second is because Matt was a clone that escaped his death that was supposed to die and give organs to El Patrón.

            My opinion towards this book is very positive and I enjoyed reading it from cover to cover. This book kept me entertained and has a great plot. This book doesn’t have any weaknesses in my opinion because it was such a great story to read and I could almost feel like I was there watching everything in 3^rd person POV. Also, there is nothing in this book that I would change.

            Would I recommend this book to other people? Yes, most definitely I would recommend it. As, I stated in the previous paragraph, it is a great plot and it will keep the reader anxious to find out what happens next.

These are 4 journal entries that I wrote. Mrs. Dunn gave us a question to answer each day and these are the ones I enjoyed writing about the most.

To me, fitting is somewhat important. This is because life isn’t fun without friends. I don’t do much to fit in because the kind of friends I have, all have different personalities and we get along like we’re family even though we only knew each other for a couple of months.

            I have never done anything as a part of a crowd and felt bad about it after. This is because I never get the chance to do stuff like that. The people I hang out with don’t attempt to or do anything in life they would regret. Although, if I did have a chance to participate in such activities, I would’ve thought twice about it to know what I was getting into.

            If I were to have a fresh start in one part of my life, I would start high school over again. I chose this specific option because I don’t want people to look at me as just that quiet guy. I would’ve done everything right. With a fresh start, I would take my high school experience and stay on top of work to relax and socialize without thinking a project is due the next day and I didn’t start it yet. Socially, in that period I could’ve made more friends, knew more people in the school, and actually “have” fun in high school just like everyone says it is.

            So winter break just ended and I’m back in school. Just imagine the joy on my face coming back to school when I just spent half of my break doing schoolwork. Yes, the break felt really short. I didn’t get to do all the things I wanted to, but at least I got most of my work done.

            Beside all the cons of my break, there were many pros to it, too. For Christmas, I got a drum set that I wanted since I was a little kid, some clothes, money, and a warm and cozy Snuggie! The rest of the break I spent at my cousin’s house sleeping over. New Years was WAY better though! The whole family got together and had a party. For the first time in a long time, I actually had fun at a family party!

            What makes someone a good storyteller is by no matter what the story is, the person can make the story realistic. Personally, I like when someone makes a story funny when its not meant to be funny. A good storyteller can bring the story to life just enough to visualize what the scene would look like to be experiencing it instead of just hearing about it.

Now, with a good storyteller, you need a good story. A good story is when there is meaning to the story. By meaning, I mean to tell a moral, to use to make a joke out of, to tell a good past time, etc. 

In the United States, 2007, the cancer prevalence, the number of people living with cancer, came to a total of 11,714,000 people (rounded to the nearest 1000). This includes males, females and all the types of cancer. 5,353,000 males were living with cancer in 2007; this includes all types of cancer. Also, 6,361,000, females were living with cancer in 2007; this also includes all types of cancer. The type of cancer that most people were living with in 2007 is breast cancer; 13,000 males lived with it and 2,592,000 females lived with it. To think if these people didn't die, what good they would do to the world aside from the bad that is already in the world like wars, but that's a whole different blog. One of them could've started something big to help the world get back up from what ever brought it down. I always wondered what life would be like knowing you don't have much time left if your not that old, but these victims have and I hope they used the rest of their time well. Are you really living if you're not making each day different and lively?

The best cancer charities to donate to are the “Breast Cancer Fund”, “Breast Cancer Research Foundation”, “Susan G. Komen for the Cure”, and “St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital”.

I also researched if cancer if curable. The answer to that is yes! 80% of all types of cancer can be cured, but only if treated early. Although, not everyone still survived. A vaccine can’t cure it though because a vaccine can only heal against a disease by a germ and cancer isn’t a germ, therefore a vaccine will never cure cancer.

So what is the cure? Read next week’s blog to read my further research on this “cure”.

http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancerbasics/cancer-prevalence

http://www.charitywatch.org/toprated.html#cancer

http://www.healthoma.com/can-cancer-be-cured-is-cancer-curable/

The topics were cut off at the top so in order they were:

Roberto: Yo

Victoria: Ella

Aidan, Zakee, y Eric: Ellos

Tyanna y Jordan: Ellas

Aaron y Yo: Nosotros

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Below is a video of Roberto dropping his wallet bumping into Brandon, they get into a fight, and Roberto forgot he dropped his wallet. Then Aidan getting Roberto's attention and giving him back his wallet: