Th Life Cycle of Pre-Made Pasta

I can still remember the day I was made. Mixed into batter and pressed into long strands. I was then cooked and placed into a plastic tray. Soon later, there was a creamy, cheesy sauce poured over me and a clear plastic lid was sealed a inch above me trapping me inside. Who am I kidding; I wasn't going anywhere because I am pasta. I was loaded into a dark brown along with many other combinations of sauce and noodle.

After a long bumpy ride in the back of who knows what, we finally stopped. I could hear talking outside and then I heard a loud creek like a large door opening. All of a sudden I feel almost weightless and then I am dropped onto the ground, tipped almost sideways and on another ride but less bumpy this time. Again I feel weightless and then there is the drop again. I see a shiny silver triangle poke past the tape on top of the box and rip all the way across the top. I then see a bright light peek through the crack, and then the top is completely off. There is something like one of the walking, talking things that put me in a box and sealed me up hovering over me like a giant. A humungous five pronged tan object reaches down, picks me up, and puts me right on top of others just like me. The man leaves and then another person picks me up and throws me in a topless metal cage.

We ride around smoothly for a while but then she takes me out of the cage and puts me on a black rubbery mat that moves me closer to a glowing, red, gun-like-thing. Now the lady with the apron and gun lifts me and scans my black striped combination on my sticker. Next I am set down in a plastic bag just like what other humans are carrying out of the store. Again the bag is picked up and I am being carried to something and then comes another bumpy ride to a different location.

My lid is opened and I am being dumped into a shiny circle with a long shiny handle. I feel a woosh as the circle heats up rapidly. I feel my self browning and I am dumped onto another colorful circle this time with no handle. I am stabbed by a pronged silver object and lifted up into the persons speaker. It gets dark and I am being broken up. I won't have time to finish this log because I am running out of time.

The Lottery; Themes

In the story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, there are lots of different themes that greatly express how different lotteries were back in the nineteen-forties compared to the present. Each town had a lottery where names were put into a box and pulled out for the winner to earn something. This story shows how people felt about this  and how it became a tradition in their particular city.

Of course there are lots of people even in a in a town square and most all of them know each other. There are the Delacroix's, Martin's, Summers', and Grave's. These are some of the main families in this story. Some of the themes in this story are tradition, luck, and danger. Tradition is a theme because this is a monthly deal that everyone is forced to attend. Also, at every lottery the oldest son (16 or older) or father get to choose the card. Luck is another theme because there is no way of knowing if your family will be 'cursed' or not by getting the unlucky card with the black spot on it. Finally, Danger is a theme because one member in your family will be stoned if you choose the wrong card and there is no way of knowing which card is which.

Baseball Catcher

Author's note: This poem is written to improve my score in Figurative language and it is from the point of view of a catcher in baseball.

As I squat behind the plate,

I see the leather sphere hurdling towards me as fast as a bullet.

As it sprints toward me, I prepare to catch it.

A split-second before I enclose it in my mitt,

I hear a crack as loud as a train horn.

Next thing I know, I am watching the ball

Scream through the air.

I look left and see the bull on third base

Speeding to home plate like a racecar.

He is in a race with the baseball to get to the plate first.

I snag it out of the air

Just as I get snowplowed to the ground.

When I stand back up,

I am still holding the key that just won the game.

Character Development: Mickey Bolitar

Author's Note: This piece is written to inform you on why Mickey Bolitar of Shelter by Harlan Coben is a static character. Also, it is written to improve my score in Character Development.

Around the beginning of second semester, I finished a book called Shelter by Harlan Coben. This was actually one of the few books I have read that has a static main character. Other books like The Hunger Games or The Outsiders have dynamic characters. The main character Mickey Bolitar decides to uncover a mystery with the help of some new friends miraculously without changing his personality.

All in one year, Mickey Bolitar witnessed his father's death in a car crash, sent his mom into rehab, and changed high schools. His parents were injured in a car crash on the way to one of Mickey's basketball games. Since he cannot live on his own yet, he has to move in to his uncle Myron's house. Mickey starts out as a confident adolescent with a new girlfriend, Ashley, that unexpectedly goes missing early in the book. She leaves not trace or warning of where she went but Mickey's main goal in the book is to find her. At his school, he  meets two very important people that will make a huge impact later in the book. Their names are Spoon (his real name is not mentioned) and Ema. Both of them don't have many friends (if any) and they stand out even though they try not to.

Moving on, there is a creepy person in lots of stories these days and they usually talk nonsense but it always ties right into the solution of the story. That character appears to Mickey in her old, abandoned-looking house in the start of the book and really phases him. She tells him that his father is still alive and even though that really shook him up, he still stays the same person. He later ties Ema and Spoon into the whole situation of bat Lady and Ashley; Spoon is the brains and Ema is the confidence. Mickey is basically the "boss" of the mission and he manages to stay cool all through school, mysteries, and adapting to a new life with Myron.

Furthermore, Mickey goes through many events such as a nightclub scandal and a stalker that works for bat lady. This book is packed with mystery and action so you will just want to keep reading. This is one thing that would make it hard not to evolve into a different character inside because people are always changing and it would be hard to just stop that. For example, breaking into bat lady's home would make him braver, and getting involved with the tempered owner of the nightclub would make him tougher than before.

Finally, Mickey does solve both mysteries of his girlfriend and father but he couldn't have done it if he had changed his personality to something like wimpy, or narcissistic. If, on the other hand, he did change he would not have been able to make it through the events nearing the end of the book. Unlike  most books Mickey is a static character and even though he doesn't have many friends, he is happy with what he's got.

DNA and Fingerprints

Author's Note: This is my science essay written to inform you on the good and bad sides of DNA fingerprinting.

Have you ever wondered how the police catch a perpetrator? Well there is and it is a completely safe and easy technique. Instead of using methods of blood testing or trying to get an accurate picture of a criminal, there is an easier way to catch them. It is called DNA fingerprinting.

            First of all, most people know what DNA looks like, but do they know what it is really made of? Most of the time, the answer is no. The swirling backbones are called nucleotides and they are made of a base, sugar, and phosphate. Connecting the two strands are the base pairs. There are two different kinds of base pairs and they are guanine and cytosine, or adenine and thymine. These backbones and base pairs combined make the swirling shape that most of us already know. DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. As we learned in science class, the DNA is located in the nucleus of a cell. There “The typical fingerprint may have as many as 150 ridge characteristics” (Salter). This is what makes all fingerprints unique. There is not two people that have the same print.

Moving on, DNA is one of the most commonly used sources of evidence from break-ins, murders, or robberies. Lots of times, the criminal does not leave blood behind his/her scandal, so the police go to another option which could likely be fingerprinting. If there is any blood, the case is basically solved but there is the fear of it being contaminated. This means that fingerprinting is very clean and easy. If for some reason you would need to get a person’s fingerprint, there is lots of paperwork you would need to do to get it. Some of this includes lots of fees, time limits, and approval from the person whose print you want. The process of finding the person you are looking for just by getting their DNA is fairly easy. It starts out as the finding of a print. After you collect the evidence, you scan it into a computer that will store it and convert into a binary code (“computer language” of only 1’s and 0’s). Once it is converted, it will be matched to an identical print but if there is no match, it will just be an update to the system.

Lastly, fingerprinting is not the only way of collecting DNA though. Some of the more complicated methods are getting DNA from blood on a piece of broken glass or probably the most complicated way of catching a bad guy, trying to get an accurate picture and track him down. Blood testing is more difficult than fingerprinting because it uses specific amounts of blood instead of just an ink pad and a thumb. “Contamination can influence PCR results, particularly in the absence of proper handling techniques and proper controls for contamination” (Riley). On the other hand when you are looking at security footage of a break in, the burglar might be wearing a mask or hood and you are unable to see his face. If you can’t get an accurate picture, you can’t use the picture technique. Anything the delinquent touched with his/her bare hands will have his/her print on it.

Without fingerprinting technology, the FBI or other police forces would have to resort to challenging and risky techniques to collect DNA. Now that you know the risks and advantages about fingerprinting and some background info on DNA, it might come in handy to know what is happening when a crime scene occurs.

 

Riley, Donald E. DNA Testing: An Introduction For Non-Scientists. 2005.

Choi, Charles. DNA Extractable From Fingerprints. 31 July 2003. 21 March 2012 <http://www.fdiai.org/articles/dna_extractable_from_fingerprint.htm>.

Salter, Debbie. Fingerprinting - an Emerging Technology.

"What is DNA?" 16 April 2012. Genetics Home Reference. 16 April 2012 <http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/basics/dna>.

Character Development; Katniss Everdeen

Author's Note: this piece is written to improve my score in Character Development and figurative language. It's purpose is to inform you on why Katniss Everdeen of  The Hunger Games is a dynamic character.

As many people know, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire are bestselling  novels written by Suzanne Collins. I have finished the first and second books and I am on the third. I strongly believe that Katniss Everdeen, the main character, is a dynamic character because of many reasons.

First of all, she starts out as an illegal hunter back home in District 12. She did not want much but to keep her family safe and keep them from starving. Later on, she makes a leap of hope to try to save her sister from the dreadful Hunger Games. This early in the series she is already changing to save Prim. She also becomes extremely brave like a real soldier during the training and early stages of this "purposeful" death pit.

Later on, she wins the first Games all on relying on something from her old life; archery. She won because she wasn't afraid to kill an enemy when the time came. Along with Peeta, she had a few months of happiness back at home before she was tossed back into the arena again like a game piece with all other skilled enemies. When she was broke out and taken to the unknown District 13, she agreed to become the Mockingjay.This was her biggest change yet in where I am in the books currently. This was a huge change because she really agreed to lead all the survivors of the resistance to victory over the war against the Capitol. I think she has changed more in the second book than the first and she changed a lot in the first.

Katniss plays one of the biggest parts in the whole series and almost the whole country of Panem relies on her to lead them to victory. If you think about it, this is a planet sized problem for everyone and they blame victory or failure on one person. Overall, Katness is most definitely a dynamic character due to her change from little hometown girl to huge Panem-wide leader.

The Hunger Games; Movie or Book?

Author's Note: This is my District Assessment for the 4th quarter and it is written to improve my score in body paragraphs, Figurative language, and Conclusions.

Over Spring Break, I went and saw The Hunger Games movie because I am loving the series so far. There were many things I liked such as the idea to make an awesome novel into a movie. Also, I did not like a couple things such as the movie makers leaving out Peeta's amputated leg and many events of the actual Games. Comparing the two,the book was my favorite over the movie because of many reasons.

Currently I am on the third book and I think the series is awesome and I don't want it to end. First of all, you need to read book to see the movie. I think this because the movie's transitions are hard to follow if you don't know what is happening from the book. I was even a little confused when watching the movie myself. Next, the moviemakers included most of the important events like Peeta's leg, Rue's death, and Haymitch's drunkenness. Finally the book had way more detail and it was easier to follow because it allowed you to go back and re-read something if you did not understand it.

Although the movie was good, the books were more sophisticated because there is just something about holding a book and feeling like you are becoming a part of it. Like I said before, you absolutely need to read the book before the movie. This is because the events just happen with no warning and it is still a little but hard to follow. Another difference between the two is the fact that (in most movies) the makers of the movie add in scenes of things happening. What I mean is, for example, in the book Seneca Crane was hung and you just caught a few hints that that happened, but in the movie he was locked in a room with the nightlock berries and you experienced it first hand. I envision the books were better because they allowed you to visualize the events while you read while in the movie. If you don't know what event is supposed to be happening, you will be lost.

Moving on, they are similar in more ways than different. Obviously the characters are the same and they act the same, but there is more to a story than just the characters. There is a place where events occur (plot), a climax and most of the time a solution. I say most of the time because in The Hunger Games, there is no solution in the end of the first book. If there is and I am just missing it, it just becomes a new problem later on. Another similarity is the events of the Games. What happens before the games and after the games is the same in book and movie. For example, Peeta and Katniss' big meal with Effie and Cinna, then later on Katniss' conversation with Cinna. I found that the movie had great actors that could actually be the original character from the book if the events actually existed.

To me, this essay is important because I feel it can persuade people to see why I think the novel is better than the movie in most cases but in particularly The Hunger Games. Despite the similarities and differences of the two, the series has become one of my favorites and the movie has moved up into my all-time favorites. On my opinion the movie could be better, but never as good as the book.