Kay/Hirschfield Advisory

Class of 2014

During my sophomore year of high school, I suffered from a very bad concussion.  This led me to missing 7 months of school, going to countless doctors appointments, and finally completely recovering about 10 months after I first got the concussion.  During this time, I realized that a lot of the education related to concussions was either wrong, or incomplete.  Another issue was that these uneducated people were usually in the occupations of nurses, coaches, or the peers of the concussed.  I went out to rectify this situation, and made a website aimed at the audience of the concussed.  I wanted to pass on my knowledge of dealing with the symptoms of a concussion, and the people who don’t understand much about concussions.  This website is supposed to help all of the people who aren’t sure on how to continue with their concussion recovery, and show them how to proceed with the situation.

http://wwillson4.wix.com/concussionsbywilliam

Bibliography:

"League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/league-of-denial/

This is a frontline documentary about concussions in football, “The Concussion Crisis”.  It highlights some of the key points about concussions, the risks of repeat injuries, and the lack of concern and education regarding them.

"Concussion." Definition. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/concussion/basics/definition/con-20019272

This website gives a summary of what a concussion is, what the symptoms are, and has a detailed index of additional information about concussions.  This information will be useful as a general summary of concussions, and can be used to refer to in certain cases.  Even though I’m trying to keep this project as universal as possible, some information is necessary to get an understanding of the subject.

"Concussion - WebMD: Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention."WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2014.

http://www.webmd.com/brain/tc/traumatic-brain-injury-concussion-overview

This is a webmd entrance about concussions, it gives a collection of general information about concussions.  This gives another view at concussions and their symptoms.  Since the information regarding concussions varies so much, it is important to have multiple sources to cross reference them.

"Concussion - Symptoms ." Concussion. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/concussion/pages/symptoms.aspx

This is a website which has a very detailed list of the symptoms that people experience when they have a concussion.  It is very thorough and readable, and allows for another site to compare symptoms with.  The symptoms of a concussion are one part of it that will always remain the same, so I needed to have a complete list of the symptoms.

"Concussion Symptoms, Causes, Treatment - What Is the Treatment for Concussion? - MedicineNet." MedicineNet. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.

http://www.medicinenet.com/brain_concussion/page4.htm

This source tells some of the treatment for concussions and includes information about concussion prevention and the risk of future concussions.  This is necessary because part of my project is how to prevent future concussions from happening, and this is a valuable source for that information.

Dr. Ginsburg, K. (2014, May 26). Telephone interview.

This is an interview with a pediatrician Dr. Ginsburg.  He offered some up to date medical information which gives me a useful source for backup knowledge, as well as an extra perspective as an on the scene doctor with real life experience.

"Post-concussion Syndrome." Definition. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. <http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-concussion-syndrome/basics/definition/con-20032705>.

One of the most challenging parts of recovering from a concussion is suffering from post concussion syndrome.  This source on post concussion syndrome will help me define it in my project, which will be incredibly useful.

"How to Know If You Really Have a Concussion." N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.

http://www.thesurvivaldoctor.com/2012/09/13/do-you-have-a-concussion/

This source shows the reader how to tell if they have a concussion or not, it gives an interesting view at a problem which usually has to be diagnosed by an outside source.  One of the sections of my website is on how to identify concussions, so this source will be useful.

"Concussion Facts | Sports Concussion Institute." Concussion Facts | Sports Concussion Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014

.http://www.concussiontreatment.com/concussionfacts.html

This source is about concussions in sports, which is where most concussions occur today.  It has some pertinent information that has to be accounted for in any piece of work about concussions.

Ramirez, Ph.D. Ainissa G. "Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Concussions?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 25 Nov. 2013. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ainissa-g-ramirez-phd/why-dont-woodpeckers-get-concussions_b_4312701.html

This is a post about why some animals who experience large amounts of blunt force trauma to the head don’t get concussions, which can help say why humans do get them.

Artist statement:

When I set out to do this project, my goal was to write a story that fulfilled all of my own expectations.  I read a lot of books, and some recurring themes in stories have started to get old, so I wanted to write a story that went against these stereotypes.  I wanted to create a story that would surprise the reader with it's frankness.  I hope that when people read this they feel the same way I did when I created it.  I hope they feel like they have no idea where the story is going to go because the possibilities are endless, and nothing is out of the question.

1

Hello, my name’s Adam Daniels, and this is the beginning of my story.  I led a pretty normal childhood, up to a point.  Then I realized I was a little bit special.  This fateful occasion was one morning, when I was about twelve, and had just watched Star Wars.  I had just witnessed Yoda lift Luke’s ship right out of a swamp, so of course I was trying to use the force to see if I was a Jedi too.  I was a weird kid.  Imagine how ecstatic I was when I discovered that I could actually move certain things with my mind.  After a while I discovered that I wasn’t actually a Jedi, but a Super who could control metal.

What exactly is a Super, well first I’ll give a little background information.  The first recorded super was in 1953, who went by the name of Sally Wershire.  She discovered she could fly when she tried to jump over a fence, and almost immediately hit a tree.  That didn’t stop her from becoming incredibly famous, as the first human being who could actually fly.  From that point onward, the human race was on the lookout for other individuals who possessed the same type of talents.

Well, twelve year old me liked having a trump card over everyone “normal” in the world, so I kept these new powers pretty quiet throughout my early life.  I spent a lot of my time trying to figure out exactly what I could do, and it wasn’t until I was fifteen that I got a really clear view of my powers.  I had complete control of every piece of metal within a ten foot radius of myself.  When I say complete, I mean absolute.  I could control individual molecules of iron, steel, titanium, within that radius.  It’s true that the more delicate the work I have to do gets, the harder it was, but I could manage.  

As soon as I turned 18, I left my house to go to “college”.  In actuality I rented an apartment by a junkyard, and spent the next four years of my life exercising and refining my powers.  I had no true physical powers, so I did some remodeling of my body.  I reinforced all of my bones with titanium, and integrated spring steel into my muscle fibers and my skin cells.  The end result was that I came out of those four years an expert in my power, with an incredibly tough body, and a sharp mind.

Now seems like a good time to explain how the world works these days.  We have the Hero’s, all the goody goody little kids that always wanted to be superman.  We have the Villains, mostly psychotic and power crazy, and then we have a third subgroup of supers that try to ignore their powers and lead a normal life.  When I was 22, finished with my training, I was looking into which group to join.  Neither group really appealed to me, so I went to a coffee shop to list the pros and cons of each, and hopefully decide.

While I was at this shop, I looked outside and saw a couple of other supers fighting it out in the distance.  They were having a merry time, knocking each other through buildings, shooting energy blasts at each other, and in general causing havoc.  At that point I realized something quite ingenious. I wouldn’t join either of the groups.  I would sell my abilities to the highest bidder for protecting against these supers, and hopefully have a few good fights in the process.

2

I was working security at my third or fourth gig when my entire world changed forever.  I was downtown, sitting indoors, wearing a security uniform to blend in with the normal people around me, when two supers started fighting and heading my way.  All I could see at first were two shapes surrounded by dust, then there was a blast of energy and they became clear to my eyes.  They were two of the highest ranked supers from both sides, Block, and the Mind.  Block stood at least 7’2”, and appeared to be a solid 400 pounds of muscle.  His powers are pretty simple, but nevertheless incredibly effective.  He was incredibly durable and strong.  I thing the heaviest object he ever lifted was a couple trains, at once, and that was after those trains had crashed into him going full speed.  The Mind was a normal 5’10”, since his powers didn’t affect his physical body, but he was equally deadly.  He was the strongest telekinetic known to date, he could move things with his mind.  They were both wearing their costumes. Mr. Blocks was a variation of the standard army uniform, sleeveless camouflage top with pants, Mind was just wearing a neatly pressed suit, and of course they both had masks on.

Their fight appeared to be evenly matched, with Mind stopping Block’s fists with his powers, and Block being unaffected by everything Mind threw at him. Neither of them were slowing down, and they were coming to my building, so I decided to get involved.  At times like these I’m glad I took the time to remodel those titanium crowbars into arm braces, so I can carry around a little bit of metal with me everywhere I go.  For the moment though, I just walked up to the two fighting supers and starter to yell at them.  

“Hey, calm down before you break my building!”

They were so startled that they just stopped fighting to stare at me for a second, then completely ignored me and continued to fight.  I shrugged, and used my power to melt the titanium I kept around my left arm into a spear, then caused it to accelerate to 900 mph towards Mr. Block.  I don’t have control over the spear after it leaves my sphere of influence, so I only did this when I was sure I wouldn’t hit anything important.  It actually managed to knock him back a few feet, and again both of the supers stared at me.  No one was supposed to be able to do that.  But then no one had ever met me.

I smiled, then used my power to melt the other arm brace down into a sword, held in my right hand.  Your probably thinking, why would you use a sword?  This sword was rather special.  It had taken me a while to perfect, but eventually I figured out that since I had complete molecular control over metals, I could create something with an edge a single molecule wide.  This required a lot of concentration, and while I did it I couldn’t use my power for anything else, but with that sword I could cut through literally anything.

Block didn’t know this so he just smiled wickedly at me, stepped forward, and aimed a punch directly at my face, hoping to finish me off quickly and get back to his fight.  All of his strength made him cocky, which in turn mad me angry.  I dodged under his punch, then cut of his arm at the elbow.  It took him a full second to realize what I had done, to realize that someone had actually hurt him, then he started screaming. I never liked screaming, so I cut his head off.  

The Mind was dumbfounded that anyone could have taken Block out that easily, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to take a crack at me.  Villains always were crazy.  He started throwing telekinetic blasts of power at me, which I kept dodging.  His complete confidence in his power made him easily predictable, and eventually I was able to get him within my radius of power.  I stopped maintaining my swords edge so I would have enough concentration to pull of this next trick, and then I tore all of the iron from Minds body.  As he toppled to the ground, I started to walk to talk to my employer, and tell him to get ready for the news crews.

3

Later that day, after endless attempts of the paparazzi to get an interview with me and a couple of hearings about “manslaughter”, I was sitting in my apartment eating Cheerios when I heard a knock on the door.  I peeked through the doorknob and saw another rather famous super.  He called himself Bolt, and he was one of the only supers around who could shoot lightning out of his hands.  He was a teammate of Mr. Blocks, and was known for being an honor obsessed idiot.  Seeing him in my hallway, I realized he was probably here for revenge, so I shrugged, and reached to unlock the door. As I did this, I used my power to activate my “home defense system”.  Basically I keep a bucket of metal dust in a corner, then when I need it I can control it however I want.

On this occasion I spread the dust out around me in a circle, too thin to actually see.  It would appear to Bolt that I was unarmed, when in actuality I basically had a circle of death ready and waiting for him.  

I stepped out into the hallway with Bolt, and as he opened his mouth to probably give a speech I spoke up,

“Hey, so can we take this outside?  I don’t want to have to find a new apartment.”

I guess buildings tended to break around him too, because he was very understanding of that sentiment.  I walked down the hallway and got in the elevator, holding the door open for him.  He got in, and we got to spend the next minute or so awkwardly listening to elevator music.  Yay.  When we got to the bottom floor, I got out of the elevator and walked outside, with Bolt right behind me.  All the way I made sure to keep the cloud of metal particles floating around me.  

We walked outside and started towards a section of grass outside the back of my building.  When we got there, I turned to look at Bolt clearly for the first time.  He was average height, stood with the posture of a victim of religious schooling, and the air crackled around him with electricity. 

“Is it true that you decapitated Mr. Block?”

Wow, this one doesn’t mince words.

“Yeah, after he tried to punch me to Mars.”

“You interrupted a fight between honorable foes and used trickery to overcome an obviously superior foe.  I’m here to avenge him, prepare yourself for death.”

With that he lifted his hands, and proceeded to attempt to electrocute me.  Only problem was that the air was so full of metal particles the electricity just ended up dissipating almost immediately.  Oh man, his face was priceless, I wish I had brought my cheerios with me, just to rub it in.  

Bolt was still a hero though, so of course he attempted the exact same thing, just with more power.  The blast of electricity that he unleashed could have powered New York for a month.  If it hit me I would be dead.  But I simply molded a few of the particles in the air around me into a lightning rod, which took care of that.  At this point, I started to get angry.  This guy just came in to my house and tried to kill me, all for just protecting myself.  I don’t let stuff like that slide, so I retaliated.  Violently.

I moved all of the particles in the air around me into a circular motion, each one moving at several hundred miles per hour.  The effect was a circle of destruction that ate up anything it came in contact with.  Then I walked forward.  Bolt attempted to blast his way through the spinning mass, but it wasn’t having any effect.  It did, however, help with the one problem with this use of my power.  It told me where he was.  I just sprinted at him, using my metal enhanced muscles to reach speeds of 50 mph.  I literally ran through him, the cloud following me turning him into a fine spray of red.  It sounded remarkably like a blender.  I had to make sure to stop before running into anything I didn’t want to destroy, then I walked back into my building to shower, and think about what I should do next.

4

In the shower, I concluded that at this point I was probably screwed.  I had already been directly responsible for three supers, and had effectively pissed off everyone that mattered.  This became even more apparent when I turned on the TV, and switched it to a news station.  It started out as the usual, some small woman describing the horror of some fast food chain, when it got interrupted by a screen with the letters M&L on it.  It then switched out to a camera, showing two incredibly imposing figures that are impossible to not recognize.They were Michael and Lucifer, and they took their names from the angels they each personify.

Michael was about 6 foot, and was one of the most beautiful people ever to walk the earth.  His skin shone healthily, and you could sense the vitality pouring off of him, making him seem that much more human.  He had huge golden wings, growing out of his back to drape majestically at his sides.  Lucifer was almost his complete opposite.  He was taller than Michael, close to 7 feet tall, and grotesquely muscular.  His skin was black and leathery, even cracked in some places.  Whereas Michaels face was beautifully angry, Lucifers was permanently twisted into a sadistic smile.  He also had wings, but these were demented.  They were jet black, twisted and broken, with too many shard edges and curves to be considered healthy.

As supers, they were even more terrible.  Both had super strength, could fly on their wings, and had durability, but their individual powers were even worse. Michael could control light, bend it, concentrate it into lasers, you name it he could accomplish it.  Lucifer had control over darkness.  It followed him wherever he went, always exuding dark emotions, oozing from him into the world.  They worked as the heads of their respective sides, Heroes and Villains, good and bad.  They were perpetually fighting each other, since they were the only ones who could hope to match the others skills.  Seeing them together meant trouble.

Michael stepped forward to speak first, with a voice that sounded of authority and calm self confidence.

“Hello, people of Earth.  My brother Lucifer and I would like to take this time to bring someone to your attention, someone who has succeeded in angering both my brother and I.  This someone is Adam Daniels. You may know him as the rogue super who has recently killed Bolt, Mr. Block, and the Incredible Mind. We have deemed him a danger to society, and have decided to take immediate action.”

Now Lucifer stepped forward to speak, and the sound that came forward was the equivalent of a machine gun firing forks at a chalk board.  His voice was full of barely suppressed rage, madness, and pain.

“We have decided that we will get involved in taking care of this little man, Adam.  If you know who, what, or where he is contact us immediately.  To Adam I would like to give a small warning.  We’re coming for you, and when we find you it won’t be pleasant.”

With that, the announcement shut off and returned to the news.  I sat back, stunned.  I had somehow attracted the attention of the worlds two most powerful and demented supers, I was officially rogue, and everyone now knew who I was.  At that moment I discovered what true panic was, and then my house exploded.

As I was flying through the air, I had time to ponder why building I stay around keep breaking, and then my fall ended with me crashing into a nice and comfy mini van roof.  I groggily pulled myself out of the van, and looked up.  There in the sky, were the two angels.  Sure didn’t take long for someone to rat me out.  Michael was burning, bright as a sun, and Lucifer was next to him, lurching sickeningly through the air on his disturbing wings.  

They landed thirty feet away from me, and that’s when I knew I was seriously outclassed.  As soon as Lucifer landed, he stood up and laughed maniacally, then charged.  I barely had time to sit up when he was on me, punching me repeatedly.  Each fist was wrapped in darkness, which added just that extra zing that they needed to wake me up.  I used my power to reach out to the minivan under me, and used it’s metal to create a suit of armor for me.  This new suit proved effective at taking most of the force out of Lucifers punches, which let me gather my ability one more time and create my sword.

With it’s edge as shard as I could make it, I swung at Lucifer, and succeeded in lopping off one of his wings.  He screeched in terror and anger, retreating now behind his brother.  Michael didn’t bother to use his hands, instead his eyes started to brighten with a light that I didn’t think could possibly be anything beneficial to my health.  I therefore stepped out of the back of the armor, but left it standing as a distraction.  Then I sprinted around a nearby car to wait and see what would happen.  

Michael’s eyes finally became as bright as two suns, and then the light coalesced into two laser beams that tore through my empty armor.  It melted the entire top half off, but when Michael stepped forward to see if he hit me I ran out again, aiming to cut him in half.  I swung, and managed to cut off both of his wings, and I was treated to another scream of anger and loss.

At this point I knew I was pushing my luck to stay around, so I fashioned my sword into a type of surfboard, stepped onto it, and made it fly into the air with me firmly attached to it.  Since I had removed their wings, Michael and Lucifer couldn’t follow me, and I could get away easily.  Flying away, into the night, I finally realized that I would never become a super anything.  Not a Hero, not a Villain.  I would become something new, something other.  At least I wouldn’t have to work security anymore.

Writing helps me connect ideas I have in my head.  When I write, I start out with a general concept and it gradually get’s refined and changed over the course of my writing.  Through this process, writing helps me to puzzle out ideas I have in my head.  It let’s me form these ideas into something less translucent and more corporeal, then combine some ideas with others, making a better end product. #write2connect

Throughout this project, my group and I have been thrown about by our own sense of creativity and naive decision making skills.  We started out this project with a completely different target audience than we ended up with, and our individual pieces have grown beyond what we could have hoped for them.  When we started, we intended to market our idea of having teen friendly places to business owners and others like them, but as we went, we realized how hopeless that truly was.  We came to the conclusion that those business owners probably didn’t care enough to even look at our advertisements, so we shifted our lens of focus.  We decided to target the teens that this movement would affect the most, and changed our approach.  Originally, we were trying to get the business owners to change their entire way of business, now we’re more focused on bringing the focus to the business’ that already do this.  This allows us to cast a broader net and pull in a larger audience for our movement.

My component of our campaign was to make video advertisements that would help pull attention to our website, which Lexi was in charge of.  I tried to make the ad’s short and entertaining, while still getting the point of our campaign across.  I managed to do this by using a catch phrase, “maybe you should get out more”, and making sure to advertise our website with every video.  This strategy worked well with the posters that Gabby made, because together they targeted a large audience of teens that will undoubtedly, at some point, get bored.

This project let my group delve into our inner creativeness, and maximize the effectiveness of our advertisements.  We made sure our posters and videos were entertaining and kept the attention of our audiences, which will ensure that people will inevitably flock towards our campaign.  This surety comes from knowing that we chose the most effective market in which to advertise our website, as well as knowing that we got our message across in an effective way and a clear manner.

In the poetry wiki, we were told to create our own poems, and the only guidelines were about the type of poems we had to write like an ode, or an imagist poem.  The line, “Walking through rose bushes/The sharp thorns grabbing at the pants/Like an army of sharp fairy hands,” really shows the level of creativity we were expected to show.  Where else would you get to use such an abstract metaphor?

            You would think that with all of this creative writing going on, we would learn a flimsy amount of history or proper writing skills, but somehow we managed it.  Our history lessons encompassed everything from  Apartheid to the Holocaust, from the problems in Haiti to the French revolution, all which taught how our society came to be today.  The history of how Haiti struggled through its own civil war so recently really enlightened me.  It opened a window into the world of a poor worker and how they are oppressed and segregated constantly.

            We were also given time to look over what we had done over the year and to draw some conclusions from it.  I noticed that the multinational corporations and poor countries ruling elites were generally selfish people who were doing their best to destroy the environment and their people completely. “The Elites would have to grow a spine and stick up for their people, and be more insistent on things like child labor laws and fair treatment of workers.”  This line comes from a mock trial analysis(Click Here) where  the poor country ruling elites were prosecuted by the rest of the world.  The trial revealed that the poor country ruling elite could easily change labor laws to be morally acceptable, with only a small cost to the corporations in charge.  This selfishness is what is holding the world back from advancement in technology and quality of life.  Even more so than that, I realized that poor leadership leads to most of the worlds problems, and if every leader did what was truly in their countries best interest, the world would be an amazing place to live in.

            Throughout history class, I realized that whenever change occurs, struggle shortly follows, and the struggle may lead to more chaos, or it could end with serenity and peace. Throughout history, groups within society have tried to change the structure of that very society, and a group of people would always strongly oppose them, but that is not always a bad thing.  In WWII, the Nazi’s tried to completely exterminate the Jews, but the rest of the world rebelled against them and eventually won the war, but not before it had affected many people.  6 million Jews died, and I realized the survivors had their souls "Scorched with the fire of oppression.”(Click Here) These brave survivors had to fight to regain their place in the world, while getting over the frightening things they experienced.           

I believe that we were able to cope with the amount of work we were assigned because of the highly structured but flexible style of teaching Mr. Block employs.  He makes sure that even when we have multiple projects going at one time, we keep everything organized and together, while meeting all of the time requirements for our assignments.  The skills that have been reinforced in this class, such as perseverance, hard work, organization, and dedication, have large impacts in other areas in every day life, and that is what I truly learned this year in History and English.

Traumatic events come in many forms, but whether in the form of the holocaust or the wars overseas, these events always leave a wake of people affected by them in different ways and to different extents. However, everyone deals with this animalistic reaction to trauma in various forms.  People who survive traumatic events are people who can overcome personal discomfort.  Survivors are people who steel themselves against the horrors they face, but sometimes those horrors cling to these survivors like a wet article of clothing.  The survivors who end up living better lives are the ones who can look into themselves and except their fate, or can simply shut the suffering in a little box inside of them, in order to get over the emotional pain.

Holocaust survivors had to deal with the posttraumatic stress disorder brought on by their horrible experiences, and the PTSD is sometimes as bad as the actual experience itself.  Holocaust survivors also had to adjust to how they were treated.  These survivors went from being treated like rats to being treated like human beings, which is not an easy transition for anyone.  Modern day warriors also have this problem.  Many surviving members of our military come home to experience PTSD and survivor’s guilt, which is to think that they somehow could have saved their fallen comrades.  Warfare and struggle change a person, and the new person is usually a shocked shell of their former self, ready to be shattered by the casual cruelty of the obscene world.

The people who usually deal with extreme levels of stress are the ones with a strong support system.  The people with strong cohesive family units, or a group of friends or coworkers that support you are the ones who have the support necessary to get over these sensations of despair.  In modern day warfare the warriors that lead normal lives after their wartime horrors are over are the ones who have something to distract them, like a team of some sort, or the people who are able to shove all of those feelings into a box and push it away from their conscious, so they do not think about it on a daily basis.
         In Maus, by Art Speigleman, the characters are all portrayed as different animals.  The Jews are mice, Polish people are pigs, and the Nazis are cats.  This further shows how, at that time, Nazis literally preyed on Jews, like a cat preys on mice.  The Nazis purposely lowered a class of people below them, therefore justifying genocide to their larger public, as being nothing more than taking care of a rat infestation.  This social degeneration being used against a society is despicable in every way.  The Nazis took all of the Jews’ rights away and left them, as a race, depleted and thoroughly flabbergasted by the treatment they endured.
         After the Jews were so completely mentally demolished, the survivors had to survive after that with all of that terrible information in their head.  The mental images of hanging Jews, burning Jews, starving Jews, always haunted them.  The Jews were treated as rats, except rats got more food and nourishment.  Everything that people took for granted was a shock to them.  Showering in hot water, eating until our stomachs are about to burst, exercising by choice, all of these things were foreign to the shell shocked Jews after the holocaust.
         In Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, Marji left Iran fleeing from the war.  She grew up in a country that didn’t care about the war, and who had never known true hardship.  They had never been bombed and forced to bunker down in a basement with their entire family.  They didn’t have to wear a veil so that they wouldn’t be shot.  They didn’t have war at their doorsteps.  This meant that Marji was a great deal more mature than her peers.  She needed to grow up fast, or she would be lost in the chaos of a country going through civil unrest.  
         Since Marji was forced to grow up so fast, it made finding new friends difficult because she already had an idea of what was truly important, and what she shouldn’t worry about at all.  She tried to find people who understood her predicament, but no one could to relate to her.  She eventually had to compromise and make friends with people who didn’t really understand her, but they couldn’t really hold a decent conversation with her.  This lack of companionship is a big problem for most people after a traumatic event.  When something takes up your entire life, you live it, breath it, and then you have to flee from it, it leaves a hole that needs to be filled with something, whether it is a sport, or a good friend, but that takes time to accomplish.  

         When people go through traumatic events, their very souls are scorched with the fire of oppression.  These people need time and effort to heal that burn, and while some people have the willpower to completely shut themselves away from the pain, most people need to talk about their experiences in order to recover.  There is no “better” way to deal with stress; the whole goal is to just alleviate the pressure being put on you.

Bibliography:

Satarapi, Marjane. Persepolis.

Spiegleman, Art.  Maus.

Luttrell, Marcus.  Service: A Navy SEAL at War.

Kyle, Chris.  American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in US History.

Sweatshop Trial Analysis:

As we all know, mock trials are extremely useful teaching tools.  It forces us students into the mindset of an unbiased observer, and makes us search the internet for sources both for prosecution and defense purposes.  But some mock trials don’t capture the true essence of a real trial, and there were definitely some points that were said in this mock trial that would never have been said in an actual courtroom.

            As an example, take a look at a quote from the U.S. Consumers closing statement: “We have been trained by the corporations and the system.”  This statement would never have been said in court.  It implies that the Multinational Corporations and the System have complete control over the U.S. Consumer’s life, that the average consumer is weak and simple minded.  This quote is a sign that the consumers are ready to roll over and whimper because they have no real excuse for what is happening under their noses.           

            This sort of information flowed throughout the trial, another example of this is a quote from the poor country ruling elite.  They said, “We do agree that the conditions in the sweatshops are bad.” In a real trial they would give no ground, saying that the conditions were good, until some outside source came up with some information to contradict them.  Their goal would be to try to get out of the situation as quickly as possible without suffering any collateral damage.

            The eternal struggle to try and change the sweatshop system would be accomplished much faster if everyone banded together.  The Multinational Corporations would have to be willing to produce less revenue so they could afford to make the working conditions for their workers better, give them higher hourly pay, and dispose of their waste in a more efficient and sanitary way.

            The Elites would have to grow a spine and stick up for their people, and be more insistent on things like child labor laws and fair treatment of workers.  This would make the general population much happier in their daily lives, as well as make them happier in the workplace.  In turn the workers might not get the instant, huge change from terrible to good as they might have expected.  They might have to make do with small changes at first, so they can give the corporations time to adjust to the novel experience of not making such a ridiculous amount of money.

            If the world bands together and does these simple things, the potential for sweatshops could be endless.  There might be a point in the future where working at a sweatshop could be a prestigious job.  That would be a huge achievement for the world, and it would solve much of the major problems in our society.  There would be less civil unrest if everyone was treated better and given better wages, and the environment would be at less risk with everyone using their money to protect it, and many more improvements would be possible.  These are just two examples in a sea of options.  It’s a wonder people haven’t changed these sweatshops already.

The overlapping gender roles in our cultures are few and far apart.  Nowadays, working moms and stay at home dads are common, and not looked down upon.  The only ways that Ibo gender roles have influenced ours is in small ways, like how the majority of police officers are men.

Progress is the process of something growing in a positive manner.  When a country has made progress, something has changed.  Maybe their scientists have made a huge breakthrough, or maybe they have gotten closer to solving the problems caused by poverty.  Whatever form it is in, progress is always a welcome aspect of life.

Write a letter to someone that is something you would never really send.

Dear Don Cherry,

First of all, you are amazing and have great taste in suits.  Having gotten that out of the way, I want you to know how much I appreciate your brutally honest analysis of hockey games.  I love when you talk about a fight, and give that insight into how the fighters are thinking.   How they are fighting because the fans love it and because how it is fun instead of some personal vendetta.  You truly understand the violent side of hockey.

Thesis:  Macbeth started out as an innocent but turned into a bloody tyrant who was feared by all because of his cruelty.

In act 1, scene 2, page 4, line 15, Scotland has just won a war against nor-weigh because of the brave fighting of Banquo and Macbeth.  A bloody captain speaks to the lords and Duncan about how Macbeth is brave, valiant, and a good warrior.  “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 valor’s minion carved out his passage, till he faced the slave, which never shook hands nor bade farewell to him till he unseamed him from his nave to the chaps, and fixed his head upon our battlements.”  In this quote Macbeth is so far portrayed as a brave valorous person that everyone likes.  He is also very loyal to his cause because not everyone has to kill in such a flashy way.  He seems like a person that commands respect from everyone at all times.  Macbeth so far is feared on the battlefield, but is respected off of it as a loyal person.

In act 1, scene 3, page 12, line 144, the three witches have just popped out and told their prophecy to Banquo and Macbeth.  Macbeth is talking to himself about the witches’ prophecy.  (Aside)“If chance will have me king, then chance will crown me, without my stir.” This shows that Macbeth doesn’t really want to be king, but if he should become king it would be welcome.  Macbeth says this aside to himself, which shows that he doesn’t want his companions to know exactly what he is thinking about.  He also says that he will not pursue this idle thought that he may become king because it may lead to bad things and thoughts.

In act 2, scene 1, page 25, line 37, Macbeth is talking to himself mulling over if he should kill Duncan or not.  Lady Macbeth has been egging him on, so his mind is wavering and his loyalty is failing.  “Art though not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight?”  Macbeth is having an illusion of a dagger floating around, and is thinking of taking it and sticking it into the king.  He is being convinced which shows that he is weak willed and is easily tempted with power. 

In act 2, scene2, page 28, line 34, Macbeth has just killed Duncan and has planted the daggers covered in blood on his unconscious guards.  He is depressed because he sinned and could not pronounce Amen in prayer with the drunken guards.  “But wherefore I could not pronounce “Amen”, I had most need of blessing, and “Amen” stuck in my throat.”  Macbeth was pushed over the edge when he killed Duncan.  His old valorous brave self no longer exists and has been replaced with a shell of grief and violence.

In act 3, scene 1, page 41, line 49-51, Macbeth has just seen Banquo and Fleance (Banquo’s son) go out horse riding. He has ordered some assassins to go and kill Banquo.  He needs to kill Banquo in order to keep his position as king because Banquo is full of loyalty to the old king.  “Our fears in Banquo stick deep, and in his royalty of nature rein that which would be feared.”  He says this alone after he just sent for the assassins that he hired to kill Banquo.  Macbeth has not gotten over murdering Duncan and is eager to quench his thirst to stay in power.  He won’t stop for anything not even killing his own best friend and his young son.

In act 3, scene 2, page 47, line 46, Macbeth has just ordered the assassination of Banquo.  He is telling Lady Macbeth to mind her own business and thank him later for helping them stay in power.  “Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, until you applaud the deed.”  Macbeth’s evilness has now progressed so far that he has started to think for himself when planning evil deeds.  He has become to think like a criminal and a murderer. His mind has now become so twisted that he would now be unrecognizable to anyone save for his appearance.

In act 4, scene 1, page 66, line 122, Macbeth has just seen the ghost of Banquo, which startled him and has gone to the witches seeking advice.  He sees three apparitions that tell him that none of woman born shall harm Macbeth, fear Macduff, and Macbeth shall never be harmed until the forest marches right up to his castle.  After hearing this he demands to know one more thing.  “Yet my heart throbs to know one thing.  Tell me, if your art can tell so much, if Banquo’s issue shall ever reign this kingdom.” Macbeth wants to know if he should pursue the issue of Banquo further.  This shows that Macbeth is ready to do anything to remain in power.

In act 4, scene 1, page 68, line 173, Macbeth has just heard from one of the apparitions that he should fear Mac duff, but Mac duff has fled the country.  Macbeth decides to kill Mac duff’s family in his stead. “The castle of Mac duff I will surprise, seize upon Fife, give to the edge of the sword, his wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line.”  Macbeth can now pronounce the deaths of innocent children easily, and because of his cruelty, he now reigns by mostly fear.

In act 4, scene 3, page 75, line 56, Mac duff and Malcolm have fled to Scotland and have had a heat filled conversation about Macbeth.  In the middle of this conversation, a lord comes up and tells Mac duff that his children and wife have been murdered.  Macduff says how Macbeth is the most evil “thing” ever.  “Not in the legions of hell can come a devil more damned in evils to top Macbeth.”  Macbeth now commands fear and hatred over everyone.  Wherever he goes death follows him.  He is now recognized as such an evil person that his name has become taboo to say.

In act 5, scene 3, page 87, line 11, Macbeth is  waiting for the report on the enemy thanes and their progress.  Macbeth is talking to his servant in a harsh manner for no reason at all. “The devil damn thee, though cream faced loon!”  Macbeth before would never be this blatantly rude to someone.  This shows how Macbeth has grown so evil that he no longer cares how he treats people who are of lesser status then he is.

            Macbeth as a character evolved over the course of the play.  He started out as a gracious, brave, valiant, and honest person, and ended up as a twisted, evil, and cruel villain.  This change was brought on partly because Macbeth was a lose cannon ready to blow in the beginning, but his wife helped pushed him over the edge so that he snapped.  This manipulation is sickening, and lady Macbeth rightfully went insane and died.  This change in character is a great example of how a person can become the exact opposite of what they originally where.

Let me start off by saying, I am not a person who just sits down and lets someone insult them.  NO.  I’m not saying I’m one of those guys who can’t take a little joke.   I’m talking about just letting someone just walk right over you and stomp a couple of times, just to rub in the mud.  I’m talking about someone battering your mental bulwark until you crumble.  I’m talking about someone making your life utterly terrible. This is what some kid tried to do at my bilingual French/English hockey camp last year in Quebec, Canada.   He just didn’t like me, and I returned this feeling with an equal or greater sense of hatred.  And this year, I was back for vengeance. (opener, vocabulary words, repetition for effect)

            Needless to say, that year was tough, but the next year I went, it was slightly different.  I was going with some of my other hockey-playing friends.  Their names were Liam Bonner, John Dean, Andrew Kohler, and Joey Dooner.  Like every group of young people, everyone in the group had their role.  Liam was the smart aleck, John was the big scary one, Joey was the punching bag, Andrew was the funny one, and I was the one who held up our reputation on the ice.  We were a rowdy bunch of teenagers who didn’t know that violence was bad yet, but their companionship was comforting because I now had someone who I could speak to without using a French accent.(humor)

            As soon as we got to camp, my friend, Liam, started things off well by running around and screaming, “FIGHT ME, YOU CHEESE EATING SURRENDERRERS.            So 15 minutes in I was already having more fun than I had last year. 

After we got situated in my dorm room, we went over to the rink for our first training session.  Before we went on the ice, though, my coach wanted to explain the week to both us and our parents.  For some reason 5 minutes straight of French translated into, “Your boy have fun and eat pizza.”  After that particular quote, I used the valuable skill that every teenager has of ignoring adults who probably meant to help us.(humor, dialogue)

            After this talk, me and my friends went to get dressed.  Lo and behold, there was The Jerk.  The Jerk’s name was Julian and he looked like a Tyrannosaurus Rex had a baby with a walrus.(humor)  I know that your probably thinking, why is this kid such a big deal?  Well last year he tormented me when I didn’t know anybody.  I felt lonely, and just plain terrible.  Of course as soon as my friends heard him talk, they walked right up to me and said, “ Do you know that guy?”(dialogue).  I responded by doing what comes naturally to me in almost every situation, laughing.

            The reason I was so confident was because I got a whole lot better at hockey in that year away from camp.  My theme song would have been “Stronger”, By Kanye West, except instead of harder, maybe awesomer.(humor)  Yeppers, I was feeling pretty good.  After awhile my conscience kicked in and I saw Julian in a different light.  I saw this fat kid in the corner who, even though he acted like an ass, was probably just lonely.  As I felt this feeling of compassion, I started to ignore it.  What then happened was we were having an off ice session and we started playing UFC.  Not wimpy UFC, we were actually pulling arm bars on each other.  Julian went up on to the mat, and I leaped on to face him.  Then what happened was I pushed him over and bent his arm the wrong way until he caved. 

After this, I felt great and my week went on.  We had the same schedule every day:

7:30-Wake up/eat breakfast

9:00-On ice activity

10:30-Off ice activity

11:30-Lunch

1:00-Class or special training

2:00-On ice activity

3:30-Off ice activity

5:00-Dinner

6:00-Off ice activity

7:00-Game

10:00-Snack

11:00-Bedtime

With such a vigorous (not a vocabulary word, but a good one) schedule, I didn’t have time to reflect upon the matter of Julian.  Throughout the day, many things usually happened.  We got into fights with the key chains that they gave us. One of the kids from Quebec bent a lacrosse stick on the head of Liam, which I laughed at, and Liam got angry off at some “Frenchie” and decided to grate his skates on pavement, which I also laughed at along with my camp counselor. 

With all of the laughter, this week went by totally fast, and I left with a feeling of accomplishment about how I had dealt with Julian, how I had gotten better at hockey, and how I got to mix every soda together in the cafeteria.(humor, magic three)  As I thought about it, I realized that I had dealt with this situation poorly, and I could’ve done it a lot better.   Vengeance felt amazing, but a year later looking back on this experience, I realized if I had just dealt with Julian earlier and in a more pacifistic way, I might have had a better time at camp.  Even with this heavy weight upon my chest, I still managed to leave with a smile on my face.

Two of the darkest creatures in literature are, the Dementors from Harry Potter, and The Sirens from The Odyssey. Although Dementors and Sirens both incapacitate their victims, they do so in different ways, and by exploiting different emotions. It is strange to see how many emotions can be turned against a human.  It is interesting to see how these two creatures, even though created so far away from each other, are eerily similar.

Although both Dementors and Sirens control emotions in their prey, these emotions are very different from one another.  Dementors’ very presence instills absolute despair and fear, so bad that it is not uncommon for people to go insane because of just being around them. "Dementors infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them…  Get too near a Dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you… If it can, the Dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself... soul-less and evil. You will be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life,” (Remus Lupin, The Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 10).   You can see how Dementors instill fear even unto the bravest of people.  Harry, the protagonist, is known for surviving Voldemort, the antagonist, many times, yet as soon as he happens upon a Dementor for the first time, he faints out of terror.  Likewise, Sirens use human emotions to incapacitate their victims, but instead of fear, like Dementors, it is seduction.  The Sirens sing so beautifully that any sailor on their boat has such an intense impulse to go over to them, they ignore the mounds of corpses surrounding them, and the fact that it would spell certain death for them. “ I signaled with a frown for the crew to set me free,” (The Odyssey Book 12, line 210-211).  In this quote you can see how “brave Odysseus“ fights against his bonds, even though he knows it will spell certain death for him.  Seduction and fear are both powerful forces to be tangled with.

Even both Dementors and the Sirens eat their captured victims in order to gain sustenance, they go after rather different parts of the human.  The Sirens eat the flesh, bones, and everything else physical in a human.  They are carnivores that need flesh to sustain themselves.  “Lolling there in their meadow, round them heaps of corpses.” (The Odyssey Book 12, line 51-52).  You can see that there are many bodies surrounding the Sirens, rotting and half eaten.  This shows that they have a great physical impulse to eat food.  Dementors feed on nothing except the fear, despair, and souls of their victims.  Dementors can “kiss” their victims and suck their soul out through their mouth. Likewise, they feed off of the emotions that they inspire in humans. “A Dementor's last and worst weapon is called the Dementor's Kiss. The Dementor puts back its hood and clamps its jaws on the mouth of the victim and sucks out his soul, leaving him an empty shell, alive but completely, irretrievably ‘gone.’” (Remus Lupin, The Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 5).  This quote shows how the Dementors literally feed off of fear, despair, and even the soul.  This need for negative emotion coupled with their ability to make humans feel these emotions is a deadly combination. 

Although Dementors and the Sirens both are in different books, they both have personas that are both different and similar to each other.  Dementor’s have the persona of being like death. They symbolize the grim reaper. “A Dementor rose slowly from the box, its hooded face turned toward Harry, one glistening, scabbed hand gripping its cloak,” (The Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter, Chapter 7). Dementors are deathlike in everything they do, even in appearance.  They inspire fear, they look like floating black grim reapers, and they are eerie.  Sirens are different however.  In many stories they are said to be beautiful maidens that seduce the men on the ships to swim to their own deaths.  In the Odyssey, they are half woman, half bird, with grime and rotting flesh surrounding them with “Rags of skin hanging from their bones,” (The Odyssey Book 12, line 52). The Sirens may look ugly, but because of their singing, the sailors ignore their looks, and fill in their space with an illusion created by the mind of a beautiful woman. After all, both of these creatures have personas that precede them, and whether they are better or worse than the actual thing, when one meets them, one will probably die.

Dementors and the Sirens are both eerily similar, and at the same time different.  This is strange because of how far away form each other in time they where created, yet how their creators seemed to share a similar image of horror.  This has an underlying message that these two creatures are images that are subconsciously man’s greatest fear. Maybe they are the product of thousands of years of terror combined into two beings, or maybe not. We will never truly know how the human mind works and maybe it’s better that way.  

Thesis: Macbeth started out as an innocent person but turned into a bloody tyrant who was feared by all because of his cruelty.

I wonder what would happen if Lady Macbeth could comment on her husbands character evolution?

“Brave Macbeth” is what his brothers in war call him.  He deserves that name for he is a valiant warrior capable of wreaking great havoc among his enemy’s, with his sword stained red with bloody execution.  He has been known, also, to be a bit overdramatic and dedicated in his killing.  He likes to hang the heads of the smitten upon his battlements as a message, that all who enter Macbeth’s domain shall be killed.  But my husband is not a violent man, and he is valued as a trusted person of the king’s inner circle.  But he could do much more, he could be the king to surpass all previous.  Yet the path to such greatness would cause him to become filled with malice.

My husband is a great warrior and trusted advisee to the king!  Yet I am still unsatisfied with his grandeur.  He welcomes the fact that if chance should make him king then he would welcome it, but he is still to innocent and truthful to do the deed that is needed for him to progress through the ranks.  He will not raise a hand toward the effort of him becoming king.

He is weak!  He cannot fathom the thought of committing a foul crime against someone who nourished him.  He has illusions of daggers floating towards his hands but he cannot bring himself to plunge them into this foul king.

He has finally done it!  He plunged the dagger deep within his heart and watched as the crimson blood flowed from him.  But right now, he is distraught with depression, he cannot even say amen in prayer.  He was pushed over the edge when he killed Duncan, his mind couldn’t take the stress of it, so it has crumbled.

My husband is such a genius.  He has enough sense in him to realize that he should fear Banquo, not because of what a good warrior he is, but because of his royalty of nature.  But now “Brave” Macbeth knows how to deal with such information.  He will order Banquo’s murder, along with his son, Fleance.  Oh, my husband has turned from a loyal companion, to a person loyal only to himself.

Be innocent of the knowledge, hah he has finally begun to think for himself.  He doesn’t need my guidance anymore, he can call upon his own recourses to help fix all of our “problems”.  He is such an evil individual now that he can make decisions that are the causeway to someone’s life, or death.  With all of this power, he will spur our efforts further, so that we reach new levels of glory.

First he was wary of the witches prophecy, but now he goes to them on his own!  His heart surely has changed if he can openly go to such foul felons for advice.  But they told him some very insightful news.  He cannot be harmed by anyone who was born of woman, until the woods march up to his castle he will not be harmed, and that he should fear Macduff.  Why should he fear Macduff?  Even if he could harm him my husband is a better fighter?  Anyway, I should go rest.  Fro some oddity I have not gotten much sleep lately.

My husband might have finally crossed the line!  He ordered the murder of innocent woman and children, oh my heart is full of guilt.  I brought this upon us with my evilness.  Wait what am I saying?  “I” am not the one who declared that he would “Sieze upon the tip of my sword Macduff’s family.”  That was my husband!  Why was I questioning his actions either?  We both have committed deeds worse than this, and now he is just trying to assure to himself that the throne will stay beneath him.  Now I really have to sleep, I am awfully tired.

It is Evil!  I cannot even bring myself to look that devil in the face for fear that he might sentence me to an eternal slumber.  Yet he has done well, my mind keeps telling me, my eyes deceive my mind!  He has murdered many and now commands his vast forces through fear alone.  Many even believe that speaking his name is taboo, and will lead to their deaths.  This is what my brain tells me, and I think it might be right.  The only thing that hurts more is the fact that I pushed that snowball of hate down a hill, feeding it until it grew in size and strength, and eventually overthrew the man my husband used to be.

             I cannot go on much further.  My heart is aching, and my feet hurt from the walking that I now do at night, through my own castle while asleep.  Whenever I close my eyes, I envision my hands covered in the blood of the old king, and this blood I cannot wash off.  It shall haunt my consciousness forever.  My “husband” on the other hand, feels no such emotion.  He kills and plunders without a second thought.  He has even started treating the servants like trash and has taken to the habit of being cruel and controlling at all times.  He even thoroughly calls upon their features for ideas for insults, like “Though cream faced loon!”  He has turned into an awful man and I cannot take it anymore…… 

Macbeth as a character evolved over the course of the play.  He started out as a gracious, brave, valiant, and honest person, and ended up as a twisted, evil, and cruel villain.  This change was brought on partly because Macbeth was a lose cannon ready to blow in the beginning, but his wife helped pushed him over the edge so that he snapped.  This manipulation is sickening, and lady Macbeth rightfully went insane and died.  This change in character is a great example of how a person can become the exact opposite of what they originally where.

Bibliography:

Special thanks to google for providing images.

            Since E.A. Poe wrote short stories, I will summarize one of my favorite ones, which is called William Wilson.  There are two main characters in this story, William Wilson, and some other person whose name you never find out.  William is a tyrant of a child who always bullies other children into doing what he wants.  Then he meets this other child who stood up to him.  He hurt this child and made a big mistake.

            From that point on the child becomes a shadow of William.  He starts to walk, sleep, and eat like William.  The only thing that he couldn’t do exactly like William is speak because of the fact that his voice is very faint.  He could still get the infractions and tones of how he spoke, however, which created a very disturbing thing for William to see and hear.  As they grew older this other child kept on shadowing William.  Then William ran to another country to escape this child, and found himself cheating at poker in a rich Frenchman’s in Paris.  But right before he is about to cheat the Frenchman out of all of his money, a stranger barges in and explains how William is cheating. 

            After this William goes mad with rage and chases down the stranger, only to find out it is the boy from his childhood.  This young man still had the same way of speaking and this pushed William further over the edge.  William pulled out his sword and kills this person, and then the now man pronounces that he has just killed himself and turns into a mirror.  William falls to the ground, dead.

            This is the kind of story that E.A. Poe creates.  It is twisted and interesting at the same time.  The conflict is mainly person vs. person because William doesn’t know that this other boy is him until the very end, at which point it becomes person vs. self.  My favorite character would have to be William because of the fact that he didn’t snap earlier.  The only thing that I would expect anybody to get out of this story is that you should make sure you know the way you act and like it, before you go insane.

            I couldn’t really relate to anything in this story because I have always liked how I acted.  I have always been very cool-headed(mostly), and I think that my personality completely goes against such a story of dementedness.

            Having said that, I loved this story.  E.A. Poe uses such detailed verbs when he writes so that you can almost taste, feel, and smell everything around you.  He writes as though you are part of the character and so that the reader can really relate to the trauma that these characters go through.  I wouldn’t change anything about this story, and all of it is fantastic.   I would like to recommend this book to teens or young adults who like to feel their spine tingle with the sensation of horror that comes with E.A. Poe’s writing.

            Fitting in is a funny thing.  Fitting in really depends on what party you are trying to fit in to, and how you want people to see you, as a person.  Someone might be trying to get in to the jocks, or might be a geek.  Who knows.  All I can say for sure is that everyone fits in somewhere, and finding that somewhere is a very important part of life.

What makes someone an adult?

            What makes someone an adult is mainly mindset and circumstance.  If you have to care and provide for a family in some way, then you are an adult.  If you look at the world and think of how you have to fight for your place in it, then you are an adult.  Being an “Adult” has nothing to do with your age, it only has to do with how you treat obstacles that try to overcome you.

What is a “hero”?  How would you define it?

            Being a hero is every Childs dream.  What they don’t realize is that a hero doesn’t necessarily need superpowers, all they need is something to fight for, and risk their lives for.  Firefighters are hero’s, the military is filled with hero’s, and everyone who has ever risked something for what is right, or what they believe in, is a hero.

A time when I exceeded someone’s expectations.

            In case you didn’t know, my favorite thing ever is playing ice hockey.  I love the way that your skates slide over the ice, I love how it is hard enough that you have to give 100% all the time, and I love that skill takes a backseat to the ability to try your hardest.  That’s me.  My puck skills are bordering on terrible, but I always give 100% effort.  Also, I’m fast.  I don’t mean slightly fast, I mean I can catch up to my teammates even after they get a solid head start.  Teammates, coaches, and parents have always recognized me as a person who will never stop going.  This year, I got an award for this hard work.  I got an award that goes only to one person in the entire hockey club, and is awarded for leadership, dedication, and just being an overall good hockey player.  This award has been the highpoint of my hockey life, and when I got it, I felt like I had earned it, and that it was going to look great on my wall!

            Some of you people that are reading this are probably thinking that childhood obesity can’t affect much of our general public.  You are wrong.  16% of children are obese.  That is a large enough of a percentage to be called an epidemic.  Out of those obese children, ½ of them become obese adults. 

            If you are a parent and your child is obese, don’t just think that they will magically become fit.  That is a process which lasts for a long time.  Diet and exercise affect your Child's weight, and so does mindset.  You need to make them think, and be strong enough to get through each day’s workout.  You need to encourage them, and push them.

            As I have previously stated, obese children are 51% more likely to get heart diseases, diabetes, or some other possibly fatal disease.  About half of all obese people have diabetes as well.  Also, people with a lower education have a higher chance at becoming obese.  These are staggering statistics.

            Throughout this project, I’ve discussed obesity through the lens of an academic.  I cannot fathom being obese, but I know that this is an issue that needs to be pursued.  America is slowly becoming more obese, and I don’t want the future of our country to look like the movie Wall-E.  Help America by checking out the links below, and doing research yourself.  With our help, this topic could become a first priority.

Bibliography:

http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa010803a.htm

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09317.html

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/obesityinchildren.html

​            Do you know what is truly one of the most terrible things ever?  Teen suicide.  Depression, substance abuse, and many other things cause teen suicide.  This ties directly into childhood obesity, because childhood obesity leads to depression and bullying.
            When a child is overweight, it causes them to become the center of a bullies attention.  It makes them a very easy target, and since they already have low self-esteem, it will go straight to the bullied child's head.  The overweight child will begin to think they're no good and that they should just die.  Then they contemplate suicide.
            Childhood obesity is no laughing matter.  It can be deadly both physically and mentally.  If you are reading this and are a bully, stop before you have caused a terrible thing.  If you are a parent reading this, take steps towards helping your child stay fit.  Feed them good food, limit candy, and making them exercise for at least an hour a day are all good measures that can be taken in order to overcome this illness.           
            Helping a child overcome childhood obesity is not only good for the child's state of mind, but good for their future physical health.  Obese men have a 51% increase in having the risk for heart diseases, and obese men also have a 27% increase in their death risks.  Helping a child overcome obesity could save their life.

Bibliography: http://njms2.umdnj.edu/hwmedweb/archives/big_archive.htm 

The you and the world is a project about YOU.  Well, you can kind of add the world to that statement as well, but that’s beside the point.  This project is about exploring a subject that you feel like exploring.  The only rule is that the subject has to be some type of world issue.  My topic is childhood obesity one of the biggest issues there is.

    Childhood obesity is important to me because I always feel bad about it.  Whenever I see an obese person, even if they are extremely mean, I pity them.   I wonder how they go through life without running, or any exercise at all.  I wonder what stress they must go through, and I pity them.

I have discovered that childhood obesity leads to depression through bullying, Heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and sleep apneal.  These are all serious problems, and just add on to the already bad reputation being fat has.

            I wonder if there is any cure for obesity.  The reason I wonder if there is a “Cure” is because obesity is both a physical, and mental disease.  If an obese person concentrates on working out and losing weight, they might slip back into it again.

            My next step will be focusing on seeing if this disease has any cure.  If it does, I will research that, and then move on to any other cures that might exist.

Willie Willson, Signing out

            The 10-20-30 project combined learning with fun.  We got to find our own recourses and analyze the articles, while at the same time we got to ask older people what kinds of music they listened to, which also gives us insight into the last generation.

            Finding the articles and music was equally troubling and rewarding.  When finding the music we got to listen all of the different music from our past and analyze it so that we could explain it when we inserted it into our projects.  When we where finding the articles it was extremely trying.  The articles where harder to find than a needle in a haystack.  These two different experiences helped me gain insight into the way my brain works and what I would like better in my future.

             With this project I really felt like I learned a lot.  I never could stop working to accomplish finding articles or writing and revising.  When doing this project, their where mixtures of hard work, and enjoyed strife.  With this project I felt like SLA’s true nature was revealed.

This is my old slide.   

This is my new slide which I have improved.

 I made these changes because thought that my images needed to be bigger and pop out more.  I put the big picture of the hockey player with no teeth at the back so that it would both stand out, and cause the looker to unconsciously focus on the other elements of the slides.

I also tried to make all of the words to have contrast against the pictures, and I didn't use many words.  I tried to make it so that you got the point of the slide through seeing the pictures, not through words.

   Hi in this explanation you will learn how to greet someone, ask them how they are doing, and say goodbye.  For this it is very important to remember the different way's that you say hi, for you to understand how to ask someone how they are, and how to say goodbye in different ways.

     For saying hi there are a few different forms.  In the morning you say buenos dias(Bwe-nos De-as), in the afternoon you say buenos tardes(Bwe-nos tar-des), and in the evening you say buenos noches(Bwe-nos no-che).  If you forget these then hola(Ola) works anytime of the day, but remember that the h is silent.

    When asking how someone is you can say a few things.  You can say ¿Que tal?(K-Tall), or ¿Como esta(s) (Ud)?(Ko-mo es-tas), or even ¿Como va?(Ko-mo va).  Que tal is a more general form of this and can be used in every situation, but it is always a good idea to say ¿Como esta(s) (ud)?.

Responding to this question is as simple as saying how you feel.  For ex. "¿Como estas?" "Muy bien."  This means i'm good.  Another thing to say is "Muy mal."(m-ui m-al) which means i'm terrible.  The other things that you can say are:  Estoy...

1) Bien(byen)-Good

2) Infeirmo(in-fer-ie-mo)-Sick

3) Cansado(can-sado)-Tired

4) Emocionado(Emo-cio-nado)- Excited

5) Mas o Menos(Mas oh men-os)- Allright

    Saying goodbye is like sying hi and asking how are you in the way that you can say it many ways.  You can say adios(Ad-ios) (bye), hasta luego (asta Lu-e-go) (see you soon), or hasta mañana(asta Ma-ny-na) (see you tomorow). These are all exceptable and if you say one of these people will understand you.

    When a person walks up to you they say,"Hola,¿Como esta?  It is polite to respond by saying,"Mas o menos, gracias."

  Tu vs. Ud. is a simple concept.  Tu is something you say to someone that you are of equal age to or you are older then them. It is used the informal form of a word.  Ud. (Usted) is something that you would say to someone you respect.  It is the formal version.  For spanish words their are a lot of different situations that require these different forms. For example:  Asking how an old man is doing,"¿Como esta ud?", and asking how a child is doing,"¿Como estas tu?"

Real life application:

An old man walks up to you and asks you "¿como estás tu?" and you answer "muy bien y usted." He says "muy bien gracias."

Courtesy phrases are simply saying please, thank you and excuse me.  To say please in spanish say,"Por favor."(Por Fav-or). To say thank you in spanish is,"Gracias,"(Grac-ias).  There are a few ways to say excuse me in spanish, one is,"Perdón."(Per-don) which yo say when you bump into someone, another is,"Disculpe."(Dis-cul-pe) which you say to get someones attention, and the third way is to say,"Con permiso."(Con per-mi-so) which you say when saying excuse me. These are the courtesy phrases.

    Describing weather conditions is a important part of your spanish education.  When describing weather patterns it is good to remember two things.  You can either say,"Hace....."(A-ce) which you would use when saying,"It is hot.", or,"Esta......"(esta) which you would use when saying,"It is raining."

    These are the words that you would use after saying hace:

1) Frio(f-rio) cold

2) Calor(cal-or) hot

3) Sol(s-ol) warm

4) Viento (v-i-e-ntio) windy

5) Fresco(fres-co) cool

   When using esta you would say:

1) lloviendo(y-ov-i-e-ndo) raining

2) nevando(ne-va-n-do) snowing

3) nublado(nu-bla-do) cloudy

   When asking for the weather you can ask,"Que tiempo hace hoy."(k te-ie-mpo a-ce oy) which means how is the weather today.  If you replace hoy with mañana(m-a-ny-a-na) you are asking for the weather tomorrow.

    When asking for the temparture you say,"¿Cual es la temparatura?"(cual es la temp-ar-a-tur-a).  Responding to this you say,"Es el ____grados."(es el ____gr-ad-os).

    Say your asking your mom what the weather is like so you know how to dress.  You ask her,"¿Que tiempo hace hoy?".  She responds by saying," Hace muy calor."

    Asking for the time is important in every language.  Imagine that your on a cruise and your ship is going to leave in 1 hour.  You are in a spanish speaking country and you need to ask what time it is so your ship wouldn't leave without you.  That's when asking what time it is would be involuntarily important.

    You can ask what time it is three ways.  You can say,"¿Que hora son?"(k ora s-on),"¿Que hora es?"(k ora es), or "¿Que hora tiene?"(k ora t-ie-nes).  Que hora es is the most commonly used one of these three.

    In order to answer these questions you would say,"Son las ____."(s-on las___) which is used for everything above 1 o'clock.  In order to say 1o'clock you would say,"Es la una."  In order  to say times that don't exactly fall upon the hour you add on,"y ____."(eee).  To say something is at a certain time you say,"A la ___."(ah la)  There are easier ways to say certain times, though, are quarto for 15, and media for thirty.  You can also say,"Menos (Any number over 45)."(men-os).

    Say a friend comes up to you and asks you what time you get out of school by saying," Cuando nos vamos de la squela."(quand-oh nos vam-os de la sque-la)  You say," A la tres de quarto." in response.

    Maybe your taking a test in spanish, and you need to write the date in spanish.  Then this lesson will be pretty useful.  When asking for the date you say,"¿Cual es la fecha de hoy?"(Cu-al es la fe-cha de oy).  The proper response is,"Hoy es el (Date) de (Month)."  For the date you just say the number of the date. Fro ex. 10=dies. For the month you say one of the following:

1) Enero(en-er-oh)-January

2) Febrero(feb-rer-oh)-February

3) Marzo(mar-zo)-March

4) Abril(ab-ril)-April

5) Mayo(my-oh)-May

6) Junio(hune-io)-June

7) Julio(hul-io)-July

8) Agosto(ag-ohs-t-oh)-August

9) Septiembre(sep-tiem-bre)-Septiembre

10) Octubre(oh-ctub-re)-October

11) Noviembre(nov-iemb-re)-November

12) Deciembre(desi-iembre)-December

    You are in school and you are taking a test.  You need to ask your friend who only speaks spanish what the date is.  You say,"¿Cual es la fecha de hoy?".   Your friend then says,"Hot es el diese ocho de septiembre.

Monday-lunes (lu-nes)

Tuesday- martes (mart-es)

Wednesday- miércoles (mier-coles)

Thursday- jueves(hue-ves)

Friday- viernes (vier-nes)

Saturday- sábado (sab-ado)

Sunday- domingo (dom-ingo)

In order to ask what day today is say ¿Qué día es hoy? (K- dia-es-oy)

In order to answer what is today is say hoy día es _________. (oy-dia-es)

The days of the week in Spanish are not capitalized.

Real life application:

Your friend walks up to you and asks you what day today is by saying "¿Qué día es hoy?" He answers "hoy día es jueves."