Pick a Card

 Author's Note: This short response to the story "Thank You Ma'm" is to show person vs. self conflict.
  
Roger from Thank You Ma'm is fighting against himself on the inside to make the right choices. He doesn't very well understand right from wrong because his family is either gone or away. The main event of this story, is when he really wants a new pair of blue suede shoes for himself, so he peeks around a corner looking for something. He sees a large woman with a large purse and decides to try to get some money the hard way. Secretively, he sneaks around the corner, and hits a full sprint. He latched onto the heavier-than-he-thought purse, kept running, broke the bag's strap, and fell over still with the purse. Later that night, she had changed him forever by teaching his right from wrong by teaching him to ask and be clean, and making Roger her son.

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Social Studies; Novel or Video?

Author’s Note: This a piece to compare and contrast the events that occurred in “The Patriot” and the novel My Brother Sam is Dead.

            For the past few days of Social Studies class, we read our fictional novel, and watched the movie “The Patriot”. The book that I decided to read was called My Brother Sam is Dead. Although the book and movie were fictional, they were packed with real events, detail, and they described what times were like back during the Revolutionary War very well.

            One of the main things that stand out in these two stories is the plot. They both are placed around the same time in history; Revolutionary War time. Sam and Gabriel both decided to enlist themselves without their parent(s) permission. Also, they are the oldest sons in the family. Each brother has one or more than one younger sibling to watch over and set good examples for. One more thing that they have in common though is the fact that at least one of their siblings dies by shooting. For Gabriel, his younger brother Thomas was shot by Colonel Tavington, while Tim’s older brother Sam was shot for execution.

            As you can see, they have had very similar lives, but in fact, they are very different. For example; Tim only had one sibling in the beginning of the book, while Gabriel had seven in the beginning of the movie. By the time the book was finished and the movie was over, Tim had none, and Gabriel had six and was dead. Their siblings were very different as well. Tim was completely against the war, like his parents, and wishing his brother wasn’t fighting in that bloody war. Gabriel’s oldest, younger brother Thomas was indignant that he wasn’t allowed to fight, but he was only fifteen. His father, Benjamin Martin, told Thomas he would have to be seventeen to go off to fight. Another difference is the Father’s of the story. Tim’s dad went off to fight when he was only fifteen years old and hated war forever after that. On the other hand, Gabriel’s Father went off to war at a young age, resigned, hated war, and came back to become a colonel in the Revolutionary War. In some ways, both of these families fall apart piece by piece. Tim’s only brother dies because of something he was falsely accused of, while two of the oldest boys in the family died from war and the other five kids are heartbroken.

            In conclusion, these two stories explain what times were like for many people fighting in the war, and families of soldiers. Times were hard and the British killed many innocent families. Overall, the movie and book were more similar than different. The Revolutionary War was a big bad battle that was worth the freedom of everyone.

Character Development (Michael Obi)

Author's Note: This is a writing piece for Language Arts. The purpose is to improve my character development score.

 

Michael Obi is a determined man who decides to try and make a difference in his new community. He became a headmaster at a new school and decided to make the most of it. When he made a big mistake though, his expectations and attitude dropped by a bunch.

He is an younger man who got a new job as a headmaster or principle of a brand new school and district that he has never been involved in. He is young and has a nice wife that really cares about him and his job. She decided to plant a beautiful flower bed near the school. Michael was a very proud man at this point in his life, but he still didn't know the special traditions or the school and community. This doesn't sound very important, but later in the story, he finds out just how much that place where the flowers were planted really meant to the community.

One day, he saw an old lady hobble through what his wife planted in her personal time. Obviously, his wife wasn't so happy about this. In fact, Michael himself was furious and frustrated about this event. He was standing and talking with another friend/teacher by a nearby window at this time so he clearly saw what happened. Later though, he found out that that part of the campus played a humungous part in the lives of that community. They believed that that was the place where their ancestors descended and where they will go when they die. They also believed that they could visit their ancestors by going there. Obi made a fence blocking the access to the flowers and special area. When he came to school within the next week to find the place completely vandalized, he went from ecstatic to feeling terrible.

In conclusion, Obi's life went from ecstatic to in the dumpster within only a few weeks. Obviously he is a dynamic character in this short story because of his actions. He went from all nice, happy, and encouraging, to fencing off one of the most important things in town.

My Guess

Author's Note: This is a piece written to describe what is going on and what I think will happen to the three demigods in later chapters in The Son of Neptune.

Hazel, Frank and Percy are on a quest sent to find and free Thantos (Death) from wherever the giants trapped him before the Feast of Fortuna. Percy has lost his memoryu so he can't remember a thing from his past. Slowly it is all coming back to him though. Frank's father, Mars, was the man who sent them on this quest. The job of Death was to keeps the ghosts from leaving the underworld. Without him there, spirits could just walk out and go and become part of the new world that never dies. This is what I think will happen in the next few chapters.

First of all, I think the demigods will find out where the giants are holding Thantos. While on their way there, I think they will have to fight and beat other giants that are planning on raiding their camp. If they don't win, the giants will take over their camp and later take over the world and end humanity as we know it. Next, I think Grover and Percy's other close, Greek friends will find him and Percy will have to choose between Roman and Greek since he can't remember his past. We know that he can't remember his past because earlier in the book it said "Since he'd lost his memory, hiss whole life was a big fill-in-the-blank.". So far I like this book very much, but I'd recommend you read the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series first, and then The Lost Hero, and then this book.

Compare and Contrast

Author’s Note: This is a LA piece to help compare and contrast the childhood lives of two characters from different books and completely different time periods.

            Tim Meeker and Michael Oher have had had similar childhoods trying to grow to be a successful adult. Although they have some major differences, they have had quite similar pasts. One of the biggest differences that stands between them, is time their time period. Tim was from the Revolutionary War times, and Michael is from the modern day ghetto.

            Times during the Revolutionary War were hard, especially for the Meekers. Tim’s father and best friend Jerry were kidnapped and killed when the war was just starting up. His mother is taking it all in, with Sam fighting in the war, and only one person left to help run the Tavern. She is relying on Tim more than ever, and Tim has his own things to worry about, like keeping the tavern running, and helping Sam not get executed as an example.

            Although Mike and Tim are completely different, they are very similar on the inside in some ways too. Tim has had a brother executed as an example to other soldiers on what will happen if you break the rules, while Michael has had at least two of his youngest brothers or sisters taken by the DCS Department of Children Services. As you can most likely see, they have both suffered through hardships [that they might never get over] at about the same age while they are still growing up.

            On the other hand, they are completely different in many ways. The fact that the time period is different is one of the main reasons of their differences. In our time these days, you don’t go off to fight in the war when you are 15 or 16. This is exactly what Sam did but without his parents’ okay. Now Mike grew up in the ghetto, while Tim grew up in a Tory town before and during the Revolutionary War. Many kids are/were growing up in situations like these, but these two people have made differences, and publically spoke about their life because they aren’t embarrassed about it.

            These two guys are two very influential men that have had similar hardships throughout their childhoods, while other have had similar ones, but not spoken them to the world. Yes, their stories have taken place many years apart, but they did both do the same thing to express their feelings and previous lives; they wrote books. Michael’s book is called I Beat the Odds, while Tim’s is called My Brother Sam is Dead.

Text Structure Piece

Sam Meeker is fighting the British in the war, and Father is somewhere kidnapped by the British for no  clarified reason. Climaxes in stories are the point of no return in a story because one the climax occurs,  nothing will ever be the same. The climax of My Brother Sam is Dead, would be when Sam and the  British come to Redding.

Father and Tim were riding home from their trading by the Hudson River with some other people. On  their ride home, Father rode up the road a few miles to make sure there were no more cowboys up  there to cause any more trouble. Father was jumped from the cowboys and Tim had to make it all the  way home all by himself. On the other hand, Sam had been fighting for 2 years in the military. The  climax is when the British troops come and camp out in Redding, but then they decide to attack the  Generals in Redding and take hostages is when the real point of no return takes place. It sort of seems  like everyone becomes a little bit tougher and more defensive when the British attack and the  Continentals come and camp in their houses.

The consequences of these events, are good people being killed, slaves mauled, and innocents being  captured and held hostage. Some great examples of these events are when Ned (slave) gets his head sliced off by a British troop, when Jerry S. was captured and held hostage and eventually died of sickness in a British ship, and last but definitely not least, when Father was jumped and later murdered. All of these events have effected the people in Redding more than you could think. Although Redding is a Tory town, they fought against the British like true soldiers on their first trip to the country in search of food and weapons.

Everyone has an Opinion

Author’s Note: This is a Text Structure and point of view piece written from the book My Brother Sam is Dead about how different the story would have been if it was told from the perspective of Father/Life/Eliphalet Meeker.

                What would you do if your oldest son went off to fight in the Revolutionary War at only 16 years old? Well, Life Meeker is under these circumstances and he isn’t handling them very well. His son Sam stole his Brown Bess musket, went off to fight in the war, and Father was left without his gun, and the worries of his oldest son’s death. If I was Life, I would encourage Sam to be whatever he wants to be and to do what he thinks is right.

                Everyone can interpret certain stories different than one another. The way I took the book, My Brother Sam is Dead, is that Life Meeker has two sons, a wife and a tavern. His oldest son, Sam, decided to go off and fight in the war without his father’s okay. He joined the American Revolution (or Minutemen) and drove the British lobster backs right out of Boston when they came looking for John Adams and John Hancock. The story is told from the perspective of the youngest son, Tim Meeker who is only younger than 16 years of age, comes out as a mature and responsible boy who is slightly shy. When he is living normally, some challenges come at him and he is stuck with some choices and feelings.

                If this book was told from the perspective of Eliphalet Meeker, then many of the events would have been told quite differently. For example, when Sam stole the musket, in Life’s mind, he would be absolutely furious, Tim was astonished, and Sam felt pride. A great line from the story that helps tell what kind of person is “That’s that way Father was—do right first, then be friendly”. Another example is when Father was talking to the cowboys who had stopped him and Tim on their journey to buy and sell things for the tavern and barn. We would know exactly what they wanted, why they wanted it, and where it was going to go if he let them have it. They all have different thought about things, but to me, the most interesting character is Father. He is a bold man who hates to be bossed around by other people, talked back to, and yelled at.

                As stated earlier, everyone interprets things differently and they all have different thoughts about books, stories, etc. Mr. Meeker has many different traits that help you understand him better throughout the book. He can be mean, he can be scared or caring; his emotions are always different throughout the events in My Brother Sam is Dead.

Recruited Response

All he wanted was a football career that went to college and beyond. Kadeem Jones was a high school senior quarterback at South Side High who had all the talents of a football star. He has seen college scouts at his games watching him and a couple of his teammates. As he is walking to the locker room after a great game, a scout for Teller approaches him offering an invitation to an actual Teller game with hopes of a future player. What Kadeem didn’t know is that there are scouting rules that state that you can’t call a player more than a certain number times and you can’t give them money. Coach violates all these rules without Kadeem knowing about it. Now he has a challenging decision to make when the president of the NCAA asks him to help rat out Coach for breaking certain rules. Depending on his decision, will he be punished or rewarded by the NCAA?

Family and The Outsiders

 Author’s Note: This is my final essay written about The Outsiders. It will talk about the families of the characters in the book, what makes a good family, and what would happen if the parents were in the story.

     There are many types of families out in the real world. Some are good or bad, while some aren't here anymore. Greasers' and Socs' families might not be very stable because of money problems, depression, or death of someone. Although parents aren't mentioned very much in this story, they are still there and influencing what their child does today. This doesn't happen suddenly, but it can happen over a certain period of time. If things don't get fixed, they will only create more problems.

     In some ways, this is the typical greaser's life; Pony, Darry, and Soda's parents died and some other people (the greasers) sort of took them under their wing. This is the main difference between greasers and socs. Socs are the rich kids with perfect families that get whatever they want. On the other hand, some greasers don't have any real relatives left, but even worse, some don't have the money to support themselves or their brothers/sisters they way they would like to.

     As you may have noticed, the parents of the people in the story were mentioned a few times but for the most part they were absent. We all know that Ponyboy's parents passed a few years ago, but if some of the socs parents found out what they really did outside of home, they would be furious. If their parents really care, then that means that they belong to a good, stable home. If the parents really played a major role in the story, the rumble probably would have never happened, Pony wouldn't have run away, or possibly, Johnny's parents wouldn't be so ignorant.

     Think of how you would feel if all of your friends started ignoring you, and your parents got divorced and moved to different states. Next imagine yourself having to move to a different state and school. Imagine yourself being “the new kid” that no one wants to be friends with. One day someone comes up to you and tries to e nice. Would you ignore them and keep thinking that nobody wants you, or would you try to become friends with them to try to get your mind off some things? They could become the closest to family you have at the time. This does happen here and there, but it is present in the lives of some people trying to grow up to be successful. Things like this aren't going to happen overnight, maybe over the course of a month to a year long.

     All of the greasers have different families and same thing with the socs.

Behind Appearance

Authors Note: This is a piece [referring to The Outsiders]about not judging other people before you get to know them.

    The greasers and socs have a comprehensive rivalry with each other. Greasers are sort of at the bottom of the food chain because everyone underestimates them and thinks they are senseless thugs. The socs on the other hand, are rich kids who get good grades, cars, houses, but they also have good weapons and numbers too. The way of solving problems between these two groups is fighting or rumbling. Is that really going to solve anything?

    In the story, many small battles occur between greasers and socs due to their actions offending each other. On the day of the big rumble, Johnny and Dally are in the hospital due to injuries from saving children from the burning church. Johnny had severe burns all over his body, but worst of all, he had a broken back. Dally on the other hand, had a badly burned and slightly immobilized arm, but he broke out of the hospital and came to rumble. Many of the greasers were really beat up after the brawl, but it did almost nothing for the greasers or socs. It was after the rumble that they were really beat up because of the deaths. To most socs, they believe this as the stereotypical greaser's life.

    There was one soc that really understood the greasers but didn't stand up for them. That social was Randy. One of the first times Randy was mentioned in The Outsiders, was when Johnny and Ponyboy were getting mugged in the park by the fountain. After Randy talks with Ponyboy, Randy realizes that there are some greasers that feel pain and have feelings for others. On the other hand, Ponyboy realizes that socs aren't all rich, perfect teenagers that just jump greasers for fun and get whatever they want. Sadly, many of the other greasers or socs can't feel this because a portion of why they live out of is hatred of the other group.

    In the story, it seems like greasers are fighters and thugs, while socs are smart and wealthy, though if you look behind the scenes, everyone is the same inside. It is just what they choose to do with their life that people see. This is the living situation for lots of people these days in parts of the world. Their parents are dead or they were abandoned by their parents, and they have turned against some of their friends that made the right choices. What you do with your life is what you want to do with it. Don't get involved in gangs and make bad friends. Stick with the guys that make good choices and keep them as friends.

Letter From Ponyboy to Darry

Dear Darry,

                I know that you really didn’t mean to hit me like that, but I had no other choice than to run away with Johnny. We went to the park, to calm down a bit, but when we were going back, the blue car came and tried to jump us. We held them for a little while, until they said I needed a good washing. They (Specifically Bob) tried to drown me, but when I started toose consciousness, Johnny used his switch to stab and kill Bob. Since I was there when Johnny stabbed Bob, the soc, I have to hide with him. Please don’t call the police and say we’re missing.  We both knew we had to get out of there before the fuzz came so we wouldn’t get stuck behind bars. At the time, both of us felt unwanted around here so we went to Dally, who got a gun and some money from Steve, hopped on a train, and jumped off near Jay Mountain. There we found an old abandoned church where Johnny and I camped out for a long time. We bought food and cigarettes at the store so we would go crazy or starve. When we went back to the church, there was a school having a picnic up there, and the church was on fire. Johnny and I saved 4 or 5 kids from the burning church. I have a few minor burns so I’m alright, but a wooden ceiling brace fell on, and broke Johnny’s back. We and I miss you guys, and don’t worry too much ‘cause we’ll be fine.

-Ponyboy

Is Facebok a Waste of Time?

Author’s Note: This is an essay that I wrote to meet my writing goals for my next conference.

Facebook is an online chat room that I think is a big waste of time. It was created in 2004, and since then, has had over 800 million active users! More and more people are getting accounts and therefore, spending more time on it. People are spending way too much time on this site, so now they just lose track of time talking to people they don't even know. Facebook, the online chat room, is not only a distracting website, but an addictive one too. People spend way too much time on this website.

When four men created this website in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2004, they probably didn't plan on it to have so much success. The men who created it were named; Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. Mr. Zuckerberg was the man with the big idea in this story of creating this great success. As a job, he was a computer programmer and an internet entrepreneur. The other three guys, who helped Mark, were his classmates at Harvard University.

I think Facebook can be a good thing but a bad thing at the same time. The first reason I think of it as a bad thing is because people are spending WAY too much time on it. Although it may be fun to be on it, you don't need to be Face-booking for 3 hours, on average, every day. Even though there are lots of down-sides to this website, there can also be some up-sides. You could use it to post helpful thoughts to your friends saying productive things to help the environment, to help you, or to help others. Another purpose is that you also could have your co-workers create an account for business purposes only.

Facebook is wildly popular in the world with more than enough active users. Many Americans have accounts for this useful but extremely addicting website. To me this is just another insignificant fact, but at least seventy-one percent of all Americans have accounts. In some ways, Facebook is just like a really neat, new video game that you just got; it is a lot of fun for some people, and you never want to get off it until you absolutely have to. I'm just one of those very few people who think Facebook is a big waste of time. That is my opinion but yours may be different. Amazingly, some children that are 6 and even under have accounts. This can be especially dangerous for them because as a kid, everything is cool. They are still learning and they don't need another major distraction from the digital age to come into play.

For me, it is stunning how many people have Facebook accounts and how much time you spend on them. I am okay with people having accounts but I am not okay with them spending so much time on them. This is my opinion but others may think differently of this. They may be one of the seventy-one percent of users that can't get off the site.

Ther Figure

Authors Note: This is a short story I wrote about a youth football player who sees a tragic, ghostly, figure that he knew at one point.

It was a cold and foggy night when Derek Crawford was in the huddle for his rivalry football game against the Rock City Jets. As he looked into the forest beyond the scoreboard he saw a quick, blurry, figure. It wasn’t just any figure though; it was a black, misty, human figure. He broke the huddle and got in his stance as a fullback, directly behind the quarterback. Just as the quarterback started calling the cadence, Derek felt a quick chill down his back and spreading through his whole body. The ball was snapped and Derek rushed to get the ball and dive into the end zone for the touchdown. Just as he was about to get through the line, a humungous lineman jumped on him. All he remembers is feeling a sharp pain shoot down his leg from his thigh through his toes, before everything going black.

            He then awoke in a hospital bed an hour later with a broken thigh bone and pulled hamstring. His quarterback, Henry, was sitting on a bench next to his bed. Also in the window was that figure that froze him during the game. Although Derek was dazed, he was sure that it was there…Just floating and watching. When he asked his teammate if he saw the ghost in the window, he said nothing. When he looked back at Derek, his face was pale, and like a mouse, he said yes. Then they started coming up with ideas on what it could be. They thought it might be a reflection or a smoke cloud from outside, but when they checked, it was neither. As they were staring at it, they made out the misty human shape. At the same time they realized it could be a human figure, it silently and swiftly left them stunned.

            That morning, the doctor and Derek’s parents signed release papers to let him leave the hospital, but only in crutches. From then on, the ghost stopped following him during the day and started coming around him only at night when he was alone in his room. No one but Derek and Henry knew about the ghost. One night Derek was in his room doing his homework with the window open. When his parents called him down for dinner he forgot to close the window. It was at dusk so the figure was out and swooped through the open window and into the upstairs bathroom by Derek’s room. After dinner when he went to brush his teeth, the figure was standing, facing the back wall, and not moving. Derek saw the figure and was frozen by the sight yet again. Then slowly the ghost turned around and Derek saw that it was his real father but in a ghostly form. As a kid Derek was abused a few times and once in public when his dad was arrested. His dad was so bent out of shape when he was released, that he committed suicide. Nowadays, even the thought of his dad brought back bad memories. Derek was on crutches so he couldn’t run or stand very straight. He was trapped, but when his father had been staring at him for a while, the ghostly figure started towards him and he fell and hit the back of his head on the granite counter top.

When he awoke again, his mom and step-dad were looking over him. They asked what was wrong and he said he forgot completely. Since his new dad was a doctor, he did a concussion test on Derek. It turns out; he had suffered a major concussion and had his brain swelling. He also realized that it was a little harder to think and breathe. They loaded him the car and took him to the hospital yet again but this time it was too late. His brain swelled up enough that it cut off the oxygen to his brain. This caused him to stop thinking and forget how to breathe. By the time they got to the hospital, CPR didn’t work and neither did the heart shock. His mother was devastated that he only child had passed away because of reasons that were unknown to her.

Up to this day, the answer is still unclear and remains a mystery to everyone. Most people don’t believe this story because they believe that ghosts are sci-fi like aliens. This was all Derek could have said in the car before his end.