Diction

In the passage we had to read there were words/sayings I didn’t fully understand. A few of these words/sayings were “He sits like a graniteboy waiting for a chisel so he can carve himself out of the mountianside”. What does that mean?

FREEPA

Cultural background means FREEPA; family, religion, education, economics, politics, and arts. I am choosing to write about Melinda’s cultural background. To me it seemed like she didn’t have a good, comforting family like most people at her high school. Since she doesn’t have a good family religion, politics, and economics didn’t really matter. She was big on art so she liked art alot, art was a big part of her she’d enjoy going to art but the teacher was wierd.

Passages

To me the passages most relevant to me were about her and friend Heather, also how she enjoys going to her art class. These two examples stood out to me because it showed personality, she likes art but the the teachers weird and how heather shows her how to join clubs and become known but she refuses to.

Barn Story

Ken- July 19th, 3119:

On November 9th, 2022, the earth was attack by the Outer Beings. The Outer Beings wiped out nearly the entire human race; after the over population boom of the last 20 years that totaled about 40 billion people. The Outer Beings left only 50,000 people alive, my ancestors were the lucky few. On December 25th, the “government” ordered 30,000 people to be housed in a bomb shelter in downtown Manhattan and 20,000 to stay on the surface. Nobody knows what happened to that 20,000 on the surface. By the time I was born on New Years Day 3100, only 5,000 people had survived and a few were let out of the shelter first time. My name is Ken and this is my story....

A thick door opened before me and a huge wave of light rushed in. It was so blinding I fell to my knees. Eventually I gained my sight again, I looked around and realized I was in some ragged, old and sad looking building, a barn. My small group and I found three ancient vehicles and drove outside and looked around; absolutely nothing. A flat barren desert, used to be where a huge city was. This is nothing like the pictures of earth I saw. Just then a deep, mean noise sounded behind us.

The 10 of us turned and right in front of us there staring at us was a 24 foot tall beast. It was this huge, muscular, drooling beast and was just standing in the door to the barn. In its right arm was a huge club and it swung it at the vehicle next to me and totally crushed it, there was only 7 of us left now. Without even thinking, the man driving the car I was in immediately turn and drove off away from the barn, as well as the other car.

Both the cars drove as fast as they could; eventually we stopped and look around nothing, not a single plant, building, or animal. After a few minutes we decide to turn around and head back but some small dot appeared on the horizon from where we came from. Then another dot and another and another, soon there was at least 50 dots but now they were bigger, a lot bigger.

The other car drove the opposite way but we drove along the horizon. That was a mistake. Once we started driving away, the group of creatures spilt, half after us and the other half after the other group. We radioed to the shelter and had no luck, we must have been at least 5 miles away, the radio only reaches 1 mile. I turned around to see if I could see the other vehicle and right then one of the beast jumped on it. The vehicle went flying along with the creature. As soon as the car hit the ground it explode and now our group numbered only 3.

The driver turned to the left immediately and started heading back for the barn. Our weapons did little or no damage to the beasts. All of the sudden a dark speck popped over the horizon, as we got closer we realized it was the barn. We radioed in and told them we will need reinforcements. Once we got to the barn, the creatures began to circle around the barn, there was only about 50 reinforcements. I heard a solider radio to the control center saying we’re gonna need more reinforcements. More people began to come out of the shelter there had to be at least 300 people now, we were ready for war...

Final Speak Statement

My opinion hasn’t changed from “What happens should stay at a party”. No matter what it is it should always stay at a party no matter how much u want to tell your friends. If you do say something it will always hurt the victim of the rumors; no matter what it is, no matter who it is they will always get hurt from it. If you do tell people without thinking you might lose a friend or even several friends, and you could get in trouble for bullying even.
    Starting rumors is a bad thing to do anyways weather its about something at a party or who someone likes, they are always bad. Just saying something like “ This Boy likes this this Girl” can turn into a school wide rumor ruining the boy’s or girl’s high school experience. If this happens your stuck with that burden for your life and you could get in a lot of trouble by the victim and even the law. Just saying something to someone you trust, who wont tell anything to anyone, could still get out; someone walking by might hear and then tell everyone.
    Going to a party is bad, like I said in my first statement, you don’t gain anything from going to them, you can get in trouble, and a lot more things that are way worse. Just doing something so little as showing up at the party can cause a big commotion at your high school. Going into high school is a big thing, there are something you want to do or say that you shouldn’t. Running your mouth about something that someone did, even if they couldn’t control themselves, is wrong. LEAVE IT AT THE PARTY!!!!!

fifth response

Cultural background means FREEPA; family, religion, education, economics, politics, and arts. I am choosing to write about Melinda’s cultural background. To me it seemed like she didn’t have a good, comforting family like most people at her high school. Since she doesn’t have a good family religion, politics, and economics didn’t really matter. She was big on art so she liked art alot, art was a big part of her she’d enjoy going to art but the teacher was wierd.

pasages

To me the passages most relevant to me were about her and friend Heather, also how she enjoys going to her art class. These two examples stood out to me because it showed personality, she likes art but the the teachers weird and how heather shows her how to join clubs and become known but she refuses to.

Charater analysis

Melinda is starting high school for the first time and is nervous about it. She doesn’t know if she’ll have classes she’ll like, make friends after the “group” split up, and get good grades; what most high schoolers get nervous about. She is sort of shy because she isn’t a group and if she won’t just a friend at least. When high school gets going she makes a friend named Heather but that isn’t enough so one day when her least favorite teacher, Mr. Neck, is chasing her she stumbles into a old janitors closet. She cleans it up and makes it a place she can just “get away from it all”. Heather motivates her to try and join a club but fails, instead Heather convinces her to help her out with decorating a room for a party. Heather is more of an outgoing person where she has to be in everything and people have to like her; Melinda isn’t, she prefers to be left alone and to stay in her own little world inside of the closet.

Rumors, rumors are no fun; rumors, rumors hurt someone

I think what happens at a party should stay a party, so I agree with this. This means you shouldn’t say what someone did at a party that nobody else knows about. If you’re friend is doing things he or she shouldn’t be doing help them not do that and to get home safe. More importantly don’t tell anyone about it, they might not like it. If someone says something about you report it to the principle or a teacher immediately, if you don’t it could ruin your whole high school experience.
Will everything stay at a party? No, probably not but it is good if you see someone starting rumors about something at a party report it to the principle or an adult. If you don’t it could ruin their high school experience and maybe even after high school it could still affect you. High school parties are bad, people drink and do other bad things at them but worst is what rumors that come after.

When your at a party you might not do something that could also start rumor or people could spread bad things about you. For an example, if you don’t want to smoke or drink and your friends are drinking or smoking they might make fun of you because it’s not cool that your not doing what they are doing. Nothing good comes from going to a high school party; you ruin your body, you ruin your social life, and you could somehow lose friends.

Life in Khalid's eyes

I read the book “Guantanamo Boy” by Anna Perera. In the book a boy named Khalid, from England,  goes on vacation with his family to see their relatives. His relatives lives in Pakistan which is a country at war and this makes it is dangerous to be in Pakistan. A few days into his stay Khalid decides to stay up all night playing a game his friend made, Bomber One. Khalid goes to look for his dad and gets caught up in a crowd protesting that he doesn’t understand.

Khalid meets a man named Jim and goes with him to an apartment. Although Jim says Khalid’s father isn’t there, the apartments empty, so he goes home. Soon men are pouring in and abducting him, he is first asked questions and eventually he is put in jail in Kandahar. He is taken to Guantanamo Bay and held without charge. He hopes of getting home to his family and dreams are crushed after being tortured repeatedly. He is denied his freedom even though he is innocent, after 2 years of torture, he is released.

    I thought the book was good and perfect for a teenager like me. There was action, little bits of comedy, typical life of a teenager, and sad parts to give it a change. There was some parts that seemed to drag on and II would have preferred if the book was in first person. I think it would have given the reader more of a feeling that they were there while Khalid was getting beaten and torture instead of it being told in some elses point of view.

Priceless & Price

 
No matter who you are, no matter where you are from you have something you
value something and something that has value. What is the difference between valuing something and something has a value? Well, when you value something it means u love and cherish it but something having value is something you could love and cherish or you might not but it could be sold. One of the biggest things people things people don't realize is invaluable is your house, sure you can sell your house but its where you live, eat, sleep, and relax. Another invaluable item is your family, they are always there for you in good or bad and they always know what to say. Here are two examples of what to me is priceless and has a price.
I am going to start by telling you about my priceless item, well in this case they are a person. She is always there for me when I do something she doesn’t like or even hates but she helps guide me. Nobody else in the whole entire world could replace her, she is my mom. My mom is smart, funny, amazing, pretty, and I love her. When I wake up in the morning when she’s mad at me or not I always smile. My mom is an amazing cook and I love eating her cooking; my favorite meal my mom makes is spaghetti with meat sauce, it is so good. My two favorite parts of the day is when I get to come home from school or golf and shout, “Hey mom!” and my mom would say, “Hi, sweetie how was your day?” and right before I go to bed I’ll walk down stairs and say “Night mom” and she’d say “Night sweetie, love you” then I’d go “love you too”. Those two moments of my day are the most important things to me. To me my mom is my everything, without her I’d be walking into walls. I love my mom more then anything.
I have a few things I can have value but I will only choose two to write about. Something I can put a value on is my cell phone. I just got it taken away but when I had it I choose to say that it was my item that has value. My phone was the Droid X2 the only reason I had a phone is because my mom was nice enough to get me the Droid X2 phone. I like my cell phone because I can play my favorite game Angry Birds on my old cell phone I couldn’t. I got this cell phone at the end of the summer when my mom upgraded her old cell phone.
The second item I choose to write about is my alarm clock. I love my alarm clock but I also hate it, my alarm clock saves my life waking me up at 6:30 so I can eat breakfast and get ready for school and make it on time but I don’t tend to like to be woken up at 6:30. My alarm clock is an ihome, an ihome is a little music player that an ipod plugs into and plays music or charges. I choose these to put values on because I like these items but I don’t necessarily need them to live but I couldn’t go one day with out my mom.
          Both items are different and oddly similar. I value my mom, cell phone, and alarm clock but I couldn’t sell my mom. My mom and my alarm clock are very similar and very different when I want to sleep in or I forget to turn on my alarm clock my mom will come and say “Robert, time for school” or “Get up” or nudge me a little to wake me up so I’m not late for school. My mom and alarm clock aren’t the same because my mom  can’t play my favorite songs or recharge my ipod but my alarm clock can’t  make me my favorite meal, spaghetti. Same with my cell phone and my mom, my cell phone can’t recharge my ipod or make me my favorite meal. But I can’t text my family and friends or play my favorite game on my alarm clock or on my mom. But it tells time like how my alarm clock does, and it notifies me about events or where I have to be like how my mom does.
           I value my mom, cell phone and alarm clock all very differently but I can’t sell my mom. To me my mom does everything picks me up from school, sports, or other events; my cell phone only calls my mom to pick me up. I have alarm clock on this because if I didn’t id be sleeping till whenever I want to and miss my ride to school. My cell phone is a big part of my it sometimes helps me with homework, lets me stay in-touch with friends and entertains me. At the end I am waking up on time to go to school, calling my mom to pick me up and eating her amazing spaghetti.

Moving

A week before we moved, Alfred followed his normal Sunday routine; he walked to church and back with the girls and me. Then we had a big breakfast.

After breakfast, Alfred said,” I’m going for a walk.”

It was only 12:15 P.M. when he said that. At 11:30 P.M. he came barreling in with a heavy limp. Every single spot on his body was bleeding. We quickly called a cab and I gave the cab driver all the money I had and told him to get to a hospital. Once we arrived it was clear to me we weren’t the worst there. People were sitting there holding their chests or legs or arms as if they were shot or stabbed.

Finally after being in the emergency room for over three hours, a doctor came out to speak to me.

He said, “Alfred has a serious concussion, 2 broken fingers, a sprained ankle, and needs 76 stitches. He will be very sore for the next few days but should be fine in a few weeks. Just keep a close eye on him for the rest of the week.”

At 3:30 A.M. we finally got home. I was too tired to even ask Alfred what happened to him. The next morning Alfred got up around 10. The girls had gone to school. I called him into the kitchen to talk to him about last night.

I asked him, “What happened to you last night? Were you in a fight up?”

“I got kicked and punch and hit,” said Alfred, “by some guys I didn’t even recognize. They tried to mug me but once they realized I had nothing for them to mug they just beat me up.”

“THAT’S AWFUL!! Was this a gang of boys your age? You don’t remember anything about them? I told you to be careful with all these gangs taking over our neighborhood.”

Later that day, the girls came home from school and told me their school had been robbed by a gang of men wearing bandanas. I realized then that Manhattan wasn’t safe to live and that Alfred, the girls and I were leaving. I called my cousin in Reardon, Washington to discuss the move with him. He told me there was an job opening at his plant and if I could get out there soon, the job would be mine. We decided I would pack up and move that very week.

When I told the girls and Alfred about it, they were unhappy and didn’t want to leave their friends. The girls were scared to go to a new school and Alfred would have to finish at Reardon High School. Alfred didn’t like this idea and he went up to his room angry.

That weekend we all piled into a cab for the last time for a long slow drive to Penn Station. When we arrived it was total chaos, people were talking, shouting, eating, looking for their train, all sorts of things. I don’t think I had ever seen this many people in such a rush in my life. Once we boarded the train we found seats and got ready to go on a 5 day train ride. We got to Chicago at 11 P.M, changed trains and spent the next few days looking out the windows at the ever changing landscape while the train made countless stops to let passengers off and on.

Finally at midnight on our fifth day of travel, we arrived in Spokane. There we found my Cousin Matt waiting to meet us.

The next morning, the girls left excitedly for their new school. But Alfred woke up late and left for his new school in a bad mood.

Alfred came home from school at noon stating “I got suspended. For fighting.”

“We left New York to get away from fights. The first day of school you get into one. What happened and what’s the poor boy’s name?”

“Junior. I don’t like the kid, he’s a sneaky little brat. He ran into me and pushed me. So I told him to say sorry. He wouldn’t so I pushed him back. Then he punched me so I hit him back.”

“You two just fought over that?” I questioned

“Yeah,I don’t like that school” Alfred said angrily

“Well, you’re going back there right now and apologizing.”

Once there we met with the Principle who asked the receptionist to call Junior to the office. A few minutes later, a skinny boy with a big head, arrived. He was covered with bruises.

“Sit down, Junior”, said the Principle, “Alfred has come to apologize for what he did.”

“I’m sorry for yelling at you”, said Alfred, “and for fighting and for saying you’re a munchkin who can’t fight.”

“Don’t look at me, Alfred”, said the Principle, “look at Junior.”

“I’m sorry for fighting with you, Junior”, said Alfred looking at Junior.

“I’m sorry too, I should have said sorry for running into you.”

“Now stand up and shake hands”, said the Principle.

I heard Junior say to Alfred when they were leaving “ I’m a twig, with an over sized head, and no muscles. And live on the Rez so I’m used to kids making fun of me.”

Alfred asked “Why is your head so big? You must be smart. And what’s a Rez?”

“ The Spokane Indian Reservation. I’m Native American,” said Junior.

“Wow, I never met a true Indian before,” exclaimed Alfred with amazement in his voice. “ But, at least you’re smart, right?”

No, quite opposite I was born with to much cerebral spinal fluid inside my skull, a fancy was of saying I got to much grease inside my brain.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, it helps me with the ladies.”

At that, the boys laughed and walked off, talking loudly. I knew Alfred had made his first friend in Washington.

Robert Kass