I am interested in going into field of Computer Science in my life.  Which specific aspects of it as of right now I’m not sure whether it might be more web engineering focused, more aimed towards game/application development, or maybe through my life experiences it may even shift more towards teaching it in a school setting.  During my freshmen and sophomore years I had already worked a decent amount with Scratch both learning and mentoring in the subject in order to learn more about it.  And I would like to continue doing that to learn more about programming for later in life.

Product: Teaching a mini-course over at SLAB to a few of the freshmen

The project that I had envisioned doing was one where I create an intro mini course that I then teach to the a few freshmen over at SLAB.  At the beginning of the course I would have them fill out a quick survey on the first day to see how they feel about their knowledge on the subject before anything happens and then they would fill out the survey again at the end of the course to see how they feel about their knowledge at the end and I would try to gage my job based on that.  During the course of the time there I would like to shape it much like the way that the people taught me scratch shaped it wherein we spent a few days learning scratch and then made some projects on it.

A link to my lesson plans can be found here.

A link to the gallery where their projects were posted can be found here.

In the interest of not making my post take up the whole page my bibliography can be found here.

Traditional St. Patty’s Day meal for Glasgow/Force Family

Serves 6

Corned Beef - Choose at least a four pound brisket.  

Place brisket in a large pot of water with the season packet.   

Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 50 to 60 minutes per pound or until fork tender.  Remove and allow to rest while cooking the cabbage.  Slice meat across the grain.

Cabbage - Rinse the head of cabbage and cut into quarters.  When meat has completed cooking, place cabbage quarters in the boiling water and allow to cook for fifteen to twenty minutes.  When completed, remove, drain, and place on plate.  Serve with 1/2 cup melted butter, salt, and pepper to taste, or with vinegar, to taste.

Boiled Potatoes - Peel 5 pounds potatoes and cut into evenly sized chunks.  Place into salted water and bring to a boil.  Cook potatoes until soft, but not mushy.  Drain.  Add 1/2 cup melted butter and a handful of parsley and stir.  

Processed - (Assuming getting a piece of meat from the supermarket that is still uncooked is not processed)

• Butter
• Vinegar
• Season Packet

Unprocessed

• Beef Brisket
• Cabbage
• Potatoes

I would say that it’s about half and half for processed and unprocessed if you just look at the number of ingredients, but if you actually look at the amount after the dish is made then it’s a relatively small amount of the actual food is un processed.  On top of that fact there is a bit of gray area I think as to what exactly is processed and un processed, for example, would something that is just dried out so that won’t rot as quickly really processed?  The way that I’m viewing processed is something more like butter, it is a significant change that changes it completely and isn’t all natural.  If the parsley is just a dried version of the original plant I don’t think that’s really processed.  Due to the butter having a higher fat concentration and the same being true for the meat, this meal is certainly not something that should be eaten on a daily basis as one would definitely gain a lot of weight as a result of not being able to use all of that energy provided by the meal in one’s everyday life.  Obviously stemming form that would all of the other problems that come with, high fat intakes, especially animal fats from the meat and butter, like cancer increases, heart disease, weight gain, and joint issues from that weight.  So this not something that one should eat everyday or really even more than a maximum of probably once monthly.  I’m pretty sure that all of the food comes from within the US when we buy the ingredients, I’m sure that one could find the ingredients from another place outside the US but that’s were we get it, and as far as the processed foods go, any factorial interaction is going to have a negative affect on the environment so I imagine that these did too.  When I asked my mom she said that when not on sale, this meal can cost a little under 30 dollars, but it really depends on things like how big of a piece of meat you buy or how many potatoes or how big the cabbage is.  As for who made money off it all, I would have to say every company involved in the process from the farming companies to the stores that we buy the food from.  While we could probably have grown, things like the potatoes, cabbage, and parsley ourselves in our backyard or something, a cow might have gotten a bit difficult, we would not be able to do any of it during the winter and we certainly wouldn’t have gotten a cabbage or potato as big as those we were able to buy from the store.  I’m not really sure how to go about tracking any of the food other than to say something along the lines, that the potatoes were grown in the ground out in Idaho, as that was where our’s were from, harvested, washed, packaged somewhere, and then shipper over here to pennsylvania to be sold to us and then to be eaten not the most environmentally friendly process but it could be worse, imagine if the potatoes had been grown somewhere else, like Ireland.

We all started with a few silent cheers, we all knew how we worked, we all knew that we worked hard, and we all knew that we would be abel to work well with each other.  Our project was focused around the problem of homelessness in Philadelphia, not for any particular age group just in general.  After we had gotten our weaknesses out in the open, and all tried to come up with ways that we could try and keep them from happening, the most successful of which was doing a large amount of the work in class where we could all support each other and keep our selves on track, we started brainstorming ways that we could tell the public about our problem.  

The components that we decided to use were a blog/website, a QR code to get people to that website and some announcements on twitter by Drue.  Of all the components I think that obviously the blog is the most informational but of the other two which were used for getting people to go to the blog the QR code was the most successful, although slightly less so than I had expected.  I thought that it might be able to get us a slow, but steady, stream of people maybe like 10 a day but instead it got somewhere around 60-80 people the first day or two and then almost no one.  I think this was caused by the advertisement of the QR code, we had put in big letters, “FREE MONE, SCAN ME”, then at the bottom, it said “Not really free money but thanks for view our website”, once people started to find out that it wasn’t really what it claimed to be I don’t think it drew in as many people as it could have.  We all contributed to the blog, especially Owen and I we put a lot of the posts on to there along with Dejah.  We posted a lot of the information that we had found on our previous project because we already had the information.  

We ended up with about 253 views to the blog by the end of the recording time although a couple were from when we were testing the QR codes and making sure that it worked. Overall we did pretty well with the project I think, we met all of our deadlines, and we did our best that we could do for advertising with a budget of absolutely zero money.  

1. Antes de esta unidad cuando yo oí el nombre Hugo Chaves, yo pensé de más o menos dos palabras, petróleo y Venezuela.  Ahora cuando yo oigo el nombre Hugo Chaves, pienso de mochas palabras diferentes, algunos son, petróleo, Venezuela, tirano, dictador, y presidente.

2. Yo aprendo que no todos de los personas de Venezuela les gustan el, también aprendo que el no fue muy simpático a los Estados Unidos, y los Estados Unidos no fue muy simpático a el.

3. No pienso que votaría para el si yo fuera Venezolano, pienso esto porque el no fue simpático en muchos cosas, y no me gusta que el hice con su programa de televisión, yo muchos otras cosas.

"Effects of Poverty, Hunger, and Homelessness on Children and Youth." Effects of Poverty, Hunger, and Homelessness on Children and Youth. Ferndale, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. <http:// www.ferndale.wednet.edu/drupal/sites/default/files/ APAEffectsofHomelessness.pdf>. This source lists a rather large list of parameters and categories that different children could fall into to be considered homeless. Then it goes on to list some potential influences that may end up leading to certain youths then becoming homeless youths and finally it lists some potential consequences for such youths either in the near future or later in their lives.

"Homeless Children: America's New Outcasts." Homeless Children: America's New Outcasts. National Center on Family Homelessness, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. <http:// www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/ ArchitecturePlanning/ discover/centers/CYE/Publications/ Documents/outcasts.pdf>. This is a pdf published out of the National Center on FamilyHomelessness, and it lists some common causes for youth homelessness and some things that result from being a homeless youth all of which have accompanying statistics. Then on top of that there are some more statistics about homeless youths in general.

Clouser, Leigh. "Child Homelessness In Philadelphia." Message to Leigh. Clouser. 19 Feb 2013. E-mail. This interview took much longer than I had originally expected it to take, I had emailed the organization and then after some time they sent me the name of one of the people that works there. This person got back to me extremely quickly, they have been working with the organization Standup for kids for a total of 4 years now and they have worked in two of the different offices that the organization has.  They talk about some of the problems related to Homelessness of children like those having to do with sexual orientation and informing their parents of this fact. 

"NRCPFC: Homeless Families and Child Welfare." NRCPFC: Homeless Families and Child Welfare. NRCPFC, 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. <http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/info_services/ homeless-families-and-child-welfare.html>. This is another one of those sites that lists a lot of pdf's that you can go and download so that your average person could go and find more out about the issue of youth homelessness in the country. Also it has some brief explanations of where those pdf's would take you and what they would tell the reader.

Quarels, Alfred. "Office of Specialized Services." Homeless Children's Initiative. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. <http:// webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/s/oss/programs--services/ homeless-initiative>. This source lists a whole bunch of options and programs that the city has put into place in order to help homeless children go to school and get the things that they need to do well in school. Also It has some things that they can do after  school to help get an edge of sorts and to help them feel like they are actually doing something in the world.

"StandUp For Kids in the News." StandUp For Kids. N.p., 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. <http://www.standupforkids.org/news/default.aspx>.

This page has a whole host of information about some different programs and organizations related to the subject of youth homelessness. However this page is primarily being used for the picture in the right column that contains a large number of statistics about LGBT homeless youths.

Posiblemente pienso que caminaría a ellos y diría "hola" entonces ellos estarían incomodo.

¿Le dirías algo a su novia?

Sí, pienso que diría algo.

¿Qué le dirías a Pedro?

Pienso que yo se diría él la verdad.

¿Tratarías de ayudar?

Probablemente yo ayudaría si el o ellos quieren lo.

¿Qué le recomendarías a Pedro?

No sé lo que recomendaría a Pedro.

Yo, en su lugar, … (If I were in his place…)

Estaría muy triste y enojado.

Si viera a la novia de mi mejor amigo besando a su primo, ... 

Estaría muy sorprendido. 

Si, podría vivir mi vida otra ves sería diferente.

No insistiría en todos los detalles todo el tiempo.

Intentaría hacer más amigos. (Hacer = to do & to make)

Viajaría a muchos otras países.

Dormiría más.

Si, podría vivir mi vida otra ves haría mucho decisiones diferentes.

Hablaría que estoy pensando,

Sería más decisivo,

Tendría más diversión.

I chose to use an “S” shape for my sculpture for a couple of reasons, the first one was it looked kind of cool originally in the simulator that we were using to do tests.  The second reason was because coincidentally it happened to be able to look like the first letter of my name, my name being Sean.  Especially afterward I am glad that I made it like that because it really does, in my opinion, look pretty cool after it was done.

In this blogpost I have learned that the way that people talk has changed over the years significantly in both languages.  Through these blog posts as a whole I have learned that the two languages are actually very similar to each other.

One place that you can find some examples of how the language has changed near the bottom of the page is here. 

- ¿Cuales son algunos formas de escuchar cortésmente?

- ¿Hay algunos cosas que no son cortés cuando alguien le esta hablando?

- ¿Es difícil a escuchar cortésmente o es facil escuchar cortesmente?

- ¿Cuales son algunos de las formas para empezar un conversación? (What are some ways of beginning a conversation?)

- ¿Usted tiene una forma favorita? (Do you have a favorite way?)

- ¿Hay mas formas a empezar una conversación con alguien cortésmente o mas formas que no son cortésmente? (Are there more ways of starting a conversation politely or impolitely?)

Sean Force

Q2 Benchmark

1-12-12

Cunfuzzling Language

“Well Tim, do you know the answer?” 

It was math class in our sixth grade year.  

“Uuuuhhhh…” Tim said in utter confusion.  “I’m cunfuzzlled” he bursts out in one of those oh-so comical moments that Tim was famous for at our old school.  

“What?” the teacher responded at this time, as she was also now confuzzled.

At this time that was the first time that I had heard this word ever used or mentioned.  Being that I was in sixth grade and this was the first time that I had ever heard the word used I naturally assumed that he had just made up the word.  At the time, I also just assumed the definition to be basically and even higher tier of confusion and bewilderment than he knew how to express with any current words that he knew of.  

“What are you doing?” My mom said one day when I was sitting on the couch playing a game on the computer.

“Sturf” I replied not really feeling like saying stuff would work there as a general enough word to fit this situation.

“Ok,” she said and walked away.

I wasn’t really all that sure of when exactly I started to say that word.  I just remember that one day I had started to use it in place of stuff where I though it was necessary to describe the things I had or that I was doing when asked.  I wasn’t really sure of where or why I had picked it up but regardless I did it’s done and now I use that word.

“Alright, orange stream today we’re going to take a walk down to the river for an activity”

It was last spring shortly before spring break.

“Hey, where are we going,” Fred said as the whole stream started to get up and walk outside while he just sat there.

“Derp, we’re going to the river the teacher just told us that” I said.

As opposed to the previous word that I didn’t know where I got it from I do know that I got this word from school and my friends.  I had heard them using it and then after I really understood that they were saying and using another word entirely to describe what they thought to be indescribable with any other words that they currently had at their disposal did I start using it.  Derp isn’t necessarily the nicest word to use but it’s not really a bad one it’s just a more over-arching version of saying or calling someone stupid.

In “How to tame a WIld Tongue” by Gloria Anzldúa the author while talking about how one of the languages that she uses came to be states, “Chicano Spanish sprang out of the Chicanos’ need to identify ourselves as a distinct people. We needed a language with which we could communicate with ourselves, a secret language. For some of us, language is a homeland closer than the Southwest”.  The Chicanos developed their own language that they thought could describe what they needed to be described when they couldn’t use the language that they knew to describe what they needed to describe anymore.

Several years ago, when I was in the third grade, I read a book called, Frindle. It was a really funny book about a boy who finds a pen.  He decided to call it a frindle just to see what would happen.  As the school year progressed, his friends go along with it, but his teacher is not so excited.  Soon, the whole school is calling a pen a “frindle”.  The media catches wind of it and then a company begins selling frindles, and apparel with the word frindle on it. By the end of the story, the boy, a man now, receives a copy of a new dictionary with the word frindle in it.  This story really got me thinking about how people just will make up the words to describe what needs to be described.

Long ago someone decided a couch would be called a couch and a book, a book.  Why was that?  Making up new words to describe the situation we’re in or the surroundings that we have is something that we all do.  People needed to communicate with each other with more than just pictures.  Soon these new words were accepted by others, used by society, and became the norm.  The words became part of our daily usage.  Our ever changing culture with recently developed ideas and inventions, add new words to our language constantly.  If human nature follows its current path, there will be much more confuzzling language to come.

“I walked down the hall towards the board room contemplating this latest situation with the bank and the attempted robbery today.  As I though to myself, that was the second one this week, what are we going to do about this?  The bank is hemorrhaging money and I am at a loss as to why. (Look around the hall) I wonder where everyone is now, no one has been on time to a board meeting in forever and, needless to say, that doesn’t make me feel very good as a boss or an authority figure.  What’s the word…(Stops and ponders for second)  It makes me feel disrespected.  (turns toward the wall and rests his head on it)  When I think about what we could do to save this bank I draw a blank, I feel spent, I just don’t know what to do anymore.  I have asked people what they think we should do about this money situation and they just stare at me and ignore me.  (Stops and listens) What’s that noise?  (Walks down the hall)  Oh yea that’s right it’s Franks’ birthday and they’re having that party.  I wonder if i should tell him that he’s getting fired at the end of the week…(debates and struggles with himself)  No I don’t want to ruin his birthday.  The sad thing is that most of us will be fired before the month is out that was the only way to keep people from suing."

"I knocked on the door and walked in, the shareholders and investors alike were furious with my leadership, if I had know this I might have made some excuse, anything that I could have…Just to get me some more time.  To do what?  I’m not sure.  At that meeting they voted to push me out, they literally pushed me out of the bank at the end of the day.  Needless to say that was my last day working there."

"My name is Tim and that is how I lost my job, my friends, the respect of everyone I knew, and everything that I ever cared about.  That is why I sleep on the streets every night.  It has been ten years since that day.  (Man that Tim was talking to throws a couple coins into a jar beside Tim and walks away shaking his head)"

Meanwhile another friend makes what at the time I had thought to be a somewhat cruel joke, but nevertheless what I thought to be a joke, about taking the very hermit crab, after I was done taking the picture, and throwing it into the campfire. I took my picture and then as promised, but certainly not expected, my second friend picked up the very hermit crab that I had just taken a picture of and threw it into the campfire which was still lit that we had made earlier that night.

A mixture of “Hey, why’d you do that?” to “What’s your problem”s erupted from the few of us who saw.  To be honest we kind of just let it roll off as he wasn’t the kindest person anyway.  When he did this he proved that he didn’t value the life of that poor hermit crab and that he doesn’t value other’s lives.

Another time when my friends and I were back in third grade my science teacher got a couple of mice and put them into a tank with a hamster.  Our science teacher had gotten them for feeding to the snake, named King, as he was a king snake, but he figured that they’d all be okay in there for a bit until he got a chance to feed the snake after school or whenever it got hungry.  Class was calm but then all of the sudden, CRASH, BOOM, BANG!  Now two mice were dead and one injured, later to be named Survivor.  I guess that technically we should have been really sad for a the mice and we were a little sad but…we were a bit more interested in watching the snake eat the two mice that had died.  As we watched we chanted “Go King, Go King, poor mousy, Go King, Go King etc.”  Now I suppose that being in third grade we weren’t exactly the best example of valuing life but we are an example.

Now that I’m getting up so early to go to school the only thing to really watch in the morning is the news. So some mornings I sit there watch it and just on an average day I can see the headlines go by and I can see anything from “One man shot by corner store”, to something like “four dead and three wounded in a shoot out”.  These aren’t just little kids who don’t know really what the difference between right and wrong is these are full grown adults.

This weekend I had another reminder of the fact that some people just don’t value life.  It was 12:00AM and absolutely silent in the house.  Then the phone rang and it was my dad’s work, it’s the emergency desk.  The police needed to search an inlet because they thought that a murderer has tossed a gun or a knife, and other evidence down into the inlet and it needed to be found.  Yes, the crew did find a weapon and they turned it over to the police.  Not only do these people not value life but they want to make it seem, in one sense at least, as if some people’s lives just didn’t ever happen.  

Some people don’t value life.  Younger people may not be able to appreciate the value of life.  So I guess that valuing life does sort of depend on your age and it also does depend on your maturity level.  But it also has to do I think with just the fact of whether you care about anything or anyone else.  Life is precious, you only get one, and some people just don’t get that at all.

Reflective Cover Letter

I feel that this portfolio shows that I have at least stayed somewhat constant if not improving in my writing over the course of the year.  I consider my strengths to be reading and then translating or explaining what I read to others.  I consider my weaknesses to be writing.  I found that it was much easier than I thought it would be to edit my old papers and to make this portfolio.  I am most proud I think of my independent reading review.

Q1 BM

For this benchmark we had to pick a character from the book “Macbeth” either Macbeth or Lady Macbeth and trace their character path though the course of the book.

During the play Macbeth, many characters changed in many ways. Macbeth was an example of one of these people.  Macbeth started this play as a decent person, someone who could make a good king but by the end of this play he had become the kind of person who would disgust the devil himself.  

During act 1 scene 2 Captain, a bloody man has just approached King Duncan and is telling about what he just saw on the battlefield.  “But all’s to weak: for brave Macbeth - well he deserves that name - disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel which smoked with bloody execution, like valors minion carved out his passage till he faced the slave,”. (Act 1, scene 2, lines 15-20) This quote means that Macbeth was too good for them all, he just hacked right through them all until he reached his destination.  This is an important quote because it shows that Macbeth may not have been the nicest guy but he was brave.  Bravery is an important quality that a king should have to be a successful.  The fact that he didn’t hesitate is also a quality that a good king should have.

In act 1 scene 2 Captain, King Duncan is still questioning the captain about what’s going on on the battle field.  “Yes, as sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.  If I say sooth, I must report they were as cannons overcharged with double cracks, so they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe.” (Act 1, scene 2, lines 35-38) This quote states  that the enemy frightened Macbeth and Banquo about as much as a sparrow would frighten an eagle or a rabbit would a lion.  In fact when they saw this new enemy they fought twice as hard as before.  This is an important quote because it also shows that Macbeth was a brave and noble man.  In addition, it shows that Macbeth would do almost anything for his country.  It also shows how Macbeth and Banquo are such good friends and that they trust each other so much.

During act 1 scene 3 Ross, Ross and Angus have found Macbeth and Banquo and are about to tell Macbeth that he has been promoted to Thane of Cawdor.  “The king hath happily received, Macbeth, the news of thy success, and when he reads thy personal venture in the rebels' fight, his wonders and his praises do contend which should be thine or his.” (Act 1, scene 3, lines 91-93) What he means here is that King Duncan was happy to hear about the success of Macbeth on the battlefield and he is so amazed that he can’t think of what he could possibly say.  This is an important quote because it shows that Macbeth can impress people in high places which is a desirable quality to have in a king.  This also shows that Macbeth must have been a good warrior if he impressed the king.  

Over the course of act 1 scene 3 Macbeth, Ross and Angus have just informed Macbeth that he is the new Thane of Cawdor.  “The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?” (Act 1 scene 3, lines 107-108) In this quote he is saying, the Thane Cawdor is still living so why are you calling me by his name.  This quote shows that Macbeth didn’t want to make an uninformed decision and he wanted to be sure before he did anything.  This quote also shows that Macbeth is very inquisitive which is a necessary thing for a king to have in order to make skillful decisions.  

Throughout act 1 scene 4 Macbeth, Macbeth is appearing before King Duncan so that King Duncan can thank Macbeth for his services in person.  “The service and the loyalty I owe in doing it pays itself.” (Act 1 scene 4, lines 22-23) In this quote he is saying that he  was only doing his job.  Also just serving the king was payment enough for him.  This quote shows that Macbeth was not greedy at the start of the play, he was just happy to have helped.

In act 3 scene 1 Macbeth, Macbeth has summoned the murderers into the room with him so that he can tell them to go and kill Banquo.  “So is he mine; and in such bloody distance that every minute of his being thrusts against my near’st of life,”. (Act 3 scene 1, lines 116-118) In this quote Macbeth is telling the murderers that Banquo is his enemy and so much so that every minute that Banquo is alive pains him greatly.  This quote shows how Macbeth is progressing into a horrible person because Banquo was his best friend and now he is having him assassinated.  Also a king shouldn’t have to have his subjects assassinated if he has a problem with them.  He should just tell them to fix the problem or go.  Finally Macbeth is hiring assassins to have Banquo killed and keeping it a secret.   Instead he should give Banquo a fair fight and announce that Banquo is an enemy of the king and have the army fight him.

Though act 3 scene 2 Macbeth, Macbeth is telling Lady Macbeth that something is going to happen to Banquo.  He is not saying what, just that something is going to happen and that she needs to put on a sweet face to hide the knowledge of the deed to come.  “...unsafe the while that we must lave our honors in these flattering streams, and make our faces vizards to our hearts, disguising what they are.” (Act 3 scene 2, lines 33-36)   What Macbeth is saying in this quote is that Lady Macbeth needs to act normal around Banquo tonight and that they need to pretend that nothing is going to happen.  This quote shows how Macbeth is progressing into a horrible person because he is telling Lady Macbeth to do what she told him to do earlier when they were killing Duncan.  When she was telling him to do this, she had no real friendship with the intended victim but Macbeth was best friends with Banquo and now there is nothing of that friendship left with Macbeth.  Also it’s not like she can stop the murderers from killing Banquo at this point because the order has already been given. Since the murder is going to happen he didn’t have anything to lose by telling her, that way he didn’t have to go through with having Banquo assassinated alone.  She could also have given him a suggestion after he found out that only Banquo was dead.

During act 4 scene 3 Ross.  Ross is telling Macduff that Macbeth has just had his family killed.  “Your castle is surprised, your wife and babes savagely slaughtered. To relate the manner, were, on the quarry of these murdered deer to add the death of you.” (Act 4 scene 3, lines 204-207) In this quote Ross is telling Macduff, your castle was attacked your whole family was murdered, if I told how they were killed then you would probably die too out of sorrow. This is more evidence that Macbeth is turning into a horrible person because he has had Macduff’s entire family killed because Macduff wasn’t there to be killed himself.  Also, if a person has a problem with another person, then the dispute should be resolved between the two people rather than including the other person’s family.  

Throughout act 5 scene 5 Seyton, Seyton has just returned from checking on a scream that came from another room and is reporting that Lady Macbeth is dead and Macbeth is mostly unfazed.  “The queen, my lord, is dead.” (Act 5 scene 5, line 16) In this quote Seyton says to Macbeth, the queen is dead my lord.  This just shows Macbeth turning into a cold hearted monster because his wife has just died and he doesn’t really care.  Most people, if their spouse had just died would show at least a little emotion not just sit there and say that they should have waited a little longer to die.  

Over the course of act 5 scene 7 Macbeth, Macbeth has just fought with Siward’s son.  Siward’s son is bloodied and dead but Macbeth doesn’t care. “Thou wast born of woman.  But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, brandished by man that’s of a woman born.” (Act 5 scene 7 lines 10-11) In this quote he means that Siward’s son was born of a woman and that when he sees a man who was born of a woman, no matter what weapon he holds, Macbeth laughs because none born by a woman can harm him.  Macbeth has just killed Siward’s son and he doesn’t care.  Life means nothing to him anymore.  Macbeth has plucked the last straw, he’s there, to the breaking point.

All of these quotes show how Macbeth has transformed from a decent person into someone even the devil would revile.  His conscience was dead by the end of the story.  Macbeth was an angry, scornful, paranoid man who feared only Macduff.  In the end he chose to fight Macduff to the death rather than surrender or commit suicide.

Q2 BM

To learn more about memoirs and vignettes by reading the book “The Freedom Writers” which was filled with memoirs and vignettes, we also read some short stories and “The House on Mango Street”.  Then after all of this we wrote our own vignettes.

Having Fun at the Beach

On Tuesday, March 10, I woke up at 2:00AM and very tiredly stepped into the shower to get ready for a journey that no one in my house had done before, so as you might expect I was rather wary (Vocabulary) of this.(Opening Sentence)  I was feeling nervous because I may have been on a plane before but I was only a year and half, so in a way this was my first plane ride.  If I’d known ahead of time just how it would be I probably wouldn’t have been as nervous at this point.  I was also feeling excited because this a trip of a lifetime, because not many people get the chance to travel with their classmates and teachers to another country that is also the homeland of one of the teachers.  When we were at the airport I went through security with the members of my group.  The airport security proved to be an effective bulwark (Vocabulary) considering I did not know what to do or say in the airport and what to say to the airport personnel, you might have even said that I was rather inept (Vocabulary) at traversing the winding path through the airport (Imagery).  Most of my group knew what to do so I asked them.  Soon we were on our way to Costa Rica.

One of the best times I had was when we went to the beach in Curu.  The cabins that we stayed in were almost right on the beach.  One of the first things I noticed right away about the beach, was the dark sand with holes in it.  The holes were about the size of a quarter but went more than a foot down.  Judging by the fact that there were hermit crabs coming out of the holes we figured that they must be the homes of the hermit crabs  Then our eyes followed the sand to the clear ocean water.  When we got on the beach we looked around and it was rather barren (Vocabulary), of people at least as the boys had gotten out of the cabins before the girls.  A couple of people found some hermit crabs, so we all started looking for hermit crabs.  When Ben and I started looking, we found some little tracks that we thought might be hermit crab tracks so we followed them.  The little things must have been rather shrewd (Vocabulary) as it got a little confusing because their tracks crossed over each other a couple of times, they split a couple of times, and the tide had washed parts of them away.  When I finally found one and picked it up, I noticed the crab was brown and purplish.  Its legs were hairy and moving quickly, like it wanted to escape, but then the crab sucked back into the shell.  I looked at the shell, it looked bumpy and it had ridges.  I started walking away from the water and all of a sudden the crab pinched me.  It must have wanted to get down and that’s what it did as I dropped it by accident.  I picked the crab up again, it pinched me again, but this time I put it down and watched it scurry away.  It walked kind of straight, unlike the other crabs which walked sideways. 

  A little while after that, Amir found a bunch of hermit crabs and wanted to make a shelter for them so that he could amass (Vocabulary) an even larger quantity of them.  I helped him dig one.  We used our hands and some of the many pieces of driftwood that we found on the beach.  Using the driftwood made us rather adept at digging through the wet, dark, and heavy sand (Magic Three).  The sand felt damp and smooth.  Some of the smaller crabs almost got covered with sand while we were digging the shelter.  When we were finished, the hole was about six inched deep and about the size of a piece of copy paper.  Soon our classmates were finding hermit crabs and telling us so we could add them to the shelter.  By the end, we had about fifteen hermit crabs of varying sizes and different color shells.  Some were as small as a dime while others were as big as a half dollar.   A lot were trying to climb out.  They would get about half up and then slide down.   

Since I was quite sandy, I wanted to rinse off in the water.  I walked down and waded into the warm water.  When I first got out there, I jumped at the wrong time and got a mouthful of salty water.  Most of my classmates were out in the ocean.  They were laughing and playing with a beach ball.  I stayed in the water for about twenty minutes and then went back to the hermit crabs.  Most of them were gone from the shelter.  They must have figured out how to get out.  Yet again shrewd (Vocabulary) little things.  The last one was on the edge, making his break for freedom.   

After checking on the hermit crabs, I decided to go in the water again.  I spent a little more time digging on the beach with my friends.  I went into the water to wash my head and body because I had gotten watery sand on myself while digging.  I got out of the ocean and then Maestra Sandra said it was time to get washed up and changed for dinner.  This was a meaningful experience to me because it was really a once-in-a lifetime experience.   Now I like my tech stuff but even though the beach can be rather low-tech it had still been a fun day on the beach in Curu in the end.

Q3 BM 

For this benchmark we read the book “The Odyssey” and then we had to compare and contrast it to another piece of media, I chose to compare and contrast it to “O’ Brother Where Art Thou?”

Some people prefer to watch movie then to sit down and read a book.  For this paper however the subject is both.  While the movie “O, Brother Where Art Thou” and the book the “The Odyssey” are almost the same they do have a few differences, these differences cause them to be liked by different types of people.

These two pieces of media are similar for the most part because the movie is supposed to be and interpretation of the book.  However this doesn’t mean that it was exactly the same.  For example with Polyphemus, the cyclops, in the book he ate some of Odysseus’ men “He lunged out with his hands toward my men and snatching two at once.....But once the Cyclops had stuffed his enormous gut with human flesh, washing it down with raw milk” (Book 9:324-334).  In The Odyssey the Cyclops hinders them by eating some of their men and robs them of time.  Meanwhile, in the movie, the character who is similar to the Cyclops robs them of their money, food, time, and transportation.  He hinders them by robbing them of the previously mentioned items then, knocks them around and injures them.

One reason that they are different is that the movie may be more liked because

the book is a difficult read for many people while the movie they just sit back press play and watch.  Another thing is that may have caused people to like it better might be because it was less confusing and contradicting of its self.  For example, when Odysseus and his men were in the Cave of Polyphemus when he was closing up his cave “Then to close his door he hoisted overhead a tremendous massive slab, no twenty-two wagons rugged and four-wheeled, could budge that boulder off the ground” (Book 9:271-274). Then shortly after that for dinner Polyphemus, the cyclops, eats some of Odysseus’ men, “He lunged out with his hands toward my men and snatching two at once.....But once the Cyclops had stuffed his enormous gut with human flesh, washing it down with raw milk” (Book 9:324-334). These two quotes from the book would show  a picture to most readers of a huge hulking monster who has the ability to change his size at will because the first quote would paint a picture of large monster whereas the second would paint one of a monstrous figure about the size of two large men.  Now in the movie it is more constant with the Cyclops figure being portrayed by Big Dan Teague who is large but not one who can change his size at will, which is more believable.

Another difference that they had was of course time, which as would be expected caused some very different things to happen.  For example, instead of them passing the sirens while they were on the boat, the main characters were in a car.  Still this didn’t prevent them from ending up getting into trouble just like Odysseus would have if he hadn’t had his crew there. “I signaled the crew with frowns to set me free-- they flung themselves at the oars and rowed on harder” (Book 12:210-211).  Now since Odysseus was on the boat with his crew, he and they were able to escape the sirens, whereas Everette, Pete, and Delmar were not warned plus they were in the car with no crew to help them past the sirens. On the other hand, Odysseus was on the boat with his crew to help him get through it and they were warned, which may also have helped them.

While both pieces had their similarities and differences which may have affected which types of people liked these different pieces of media they were both very interesting to watch and read.  Their similarities most likely came about because of the fact that the movie was an interpretation of the book.  They did have their differences like the movie was not as contradicting of itself whereas the book did.  Time was another factor in their differences as in pre 700BCE, you couldn’t just stand on the side of the road and ask for a ride to Ithaca. Similarly, in 1937 you wouldn’t just run around shooting people with arrows and cutting other people up.  So, which is better sitting in the movie theater and lazily watching the story go or sitting down in the shade with a cool breeze blowing through the air with the book.

Creative project

After we did our papers on macbeth we had to take those quotes we used and put them into a creative piece.  I chose to do a keynote explanations of the quotes

Throughout the first and second semesters we had to read a book of our own choosing and then write a review on it for the one for the second semester we could choose what type of project we wanted to do on it. 

I’m here to talk to you today about the book Reckless by Cornelia Funke and Lionel Wigram.  This book is in my opinion one of the best books that I have read to this date, now I know and acknowledge the fact that there are people out there with different view who might think that crazy.  Some interesting thing that I’ve found out about this book is that Cornelia Funke worked on this book with another person, Lionel Wigram and as far as I can tell she has never done this before.  Another interesting fact is that one of the writers of this book Lionel Wigram has been involved in some well known movie productions like "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole," “Sherlock Holmes,” and the Harry Potter series so although I haven’t found anything that says it will or it wont become a movie, I think that it has a good chance of becoming a movie.

This book is about a about an other world that is called by the main character, Jacob Reckless, “The Mirror World” and it as obtained this name because of the fact that to get to it from “our” world he must travel through a mirror.  Jacob Reckless is the kind of person that doesn’t like to make mistakes and then one day when he finally does it sends his both of his worlds whirling into a spiral where they both collide causing his brother, Will Reckless, to be infected with the curse of fairy.  As much as Fox, a young vixen shapeshifter that Jacob has met in in treasure hunting, tries to console him Jacob blames himself for what is happing to his brother,  and to make matters worse Will has decided to bring his girlfriend, Clara, along who even more so than Will, Jacob has to remind of the dangers of this world like; attacking trees, the Goyl, and countless little forest creatures just itching for a some human flesh.

A favorite character of mine is Jacob Reckless because he is a master of his trade, treasure hunting so he has amassed all sorts of little magical items ranging from a handkerchief that creates gold coins when rubbed to a magical hair that also when rubbed gains infinite length and attach to whatever you look at.  Another reason is that he is sort of a “I’ll-tell-you-it-when-you-need-to-know” kind person which I think is kind of comical to watch, that is as long as I’m not the one from which the information is being withheld.  If there’s one thing that I think people should take away from reading this book it is that mistakes happen even to the most careful of us and that thing usually work out in the end, not always for the better but they do tend to work out.  Another good idea to take from this book or maybe more so from Jacob Reckless is to try and not make stupid mistakes.

One character that I can relate to in this book is Jacob Reckless because I know what it is like to have little brother that can be so annoying that you just want to be able to go to another world to get away from him, unfortunately for me I don’t have another world to go to when he is being annoying.  Another reason that  I can relate to him and probably we all can is that we all know what it’s like to want something that we can’t have, like the saying goes, “The heart wants what it can’t have”, maybe it’s not quite the same things as Jacob maybe it is.  I don’t personally think that I have done many of the same things as really anyone in this book has done and there probably aren’t many aspects of this book that many people in the world could have done, at least not that many that are still living.

Like I said earlier in this review I think that this is one of the best books that I have read so far.  A strength that this book has is that it is very descriptive in a way that it almost transports you to the Mirror World. However a weakness that I believe that this book has is that it will at times jump around to a different character, but this can also serve as a positive to keep you from just falling into a sort of waking sleep.  If there is one thing that I could change it would be where it ends, I would make it keep going.  Another thing that I might change is that you never find out what the Dark Fairy’s name is which is something that really bugs me so I might change it so you do find out what her name is.

I would recommend this book to most people but there are some people that I know would not like this book and some people that I know would like it.  So the long and short of it is that I would definitely recommend this book to people who like magic, action, and creepy creatures.  

Journal Entries

Most days when we went into Mrs. Dunn we would have a journal prompt to write about, sometimes it would be related to the unit we were working on, other times it would be more of a “get to know you” kind of question.

 Journal #1

I finished the magazine

I would maybe do a power-point, get it really checked sooner 

Nothing really popped like that

Journal #2

We write so that we don’t forget.  We write so we have to.  We write because we want to. We write to talk when ow voices can’t.  We write to express.

Journal #3

It is important to fit in because if you don;t then you wont be able to make friends.  Without friends life can be very stressful because there wont be stand up for you, to help you.

Journal #4

People are technically an adult when they reach the age of 18 but to me someone doesn’t really seem like an adult until these conditions are met, they are at least 18 years old (at least hopefully older), has a kid (at least one), has a steady job, grandparents are all dead and are married/dating seriously.

I was not able to find anything that said why we don't just build buildings up instead of outward, but I had to give a guess I would say that it is probably easier and cheaper to build a building that stretches outward instead of upward.  I did however find some ways that we can help conserve our wildlife this site. 

Some things that I found out were, one, just how fast wildlife is being destroyed especially over in Africa for example one statistic was that there were 5-10 million elephants in the African plains back in the 1930's and and then by 1989 which is when they were added to the most endangered species list there were only about 600,000 of them left. Statistic from this site.  

For my next post I would like to keep looking for exact reasons why we don't build up instead of out  also more ways for us to help conserve our environment and finally we don't educate more people on this topic.

I interviewed Matthew Hamilton about the 10-20-30 benchmark

He thought that the purpose of this project was to get a sense of what was going on back then.

Some questions that he raised were; Is there any similarities between the music lyrics and what was happening in that time?

For him the best part of this project was writing about the music from the different time periods. 

For him the challenging part of this project was the finding of articles for this wiki.

If he were able to change something about what he did for his final project he would do more research on his events.

I changed what I changed because I thought that it looked better that way.  Also it is more organized because before it was all over the place now it's more together.  Also it is more of a one-point, one slide kind of slide.

Before I had lots of points on one slide and to much small text.  Now I got rid of the small text and use the bleed effect better.  I put the pictures and text onto the picture of the computer which I think makes it look cooler.

 I like the slide better this way and I think that it would be much easier to read driving past versus before.  I wrote the "Me By Me" part because I thought that it would be funny.