Thursday, December 1, 2016

"Immigrants in our Land" Review Notes

Theme: I agree with Jessica Parra that the main theme of this poem is expectation versus reality.
The immigrants come to the new world looking for a better life yet once they get here it's nothing like what they had hoped for.
Tone: Jimmy Santiago's tone is depressing. He feels like the immigrants coming in are just wasting their time and that they're going to be sitting down remembering the good old days. He believes that nothing will change for them except the place they live.
Mood: When reading this poem, I felt bad for the immigrants because like Jimmy Santiago said, they are, "each with their heart open hoping they'll get a chance to change their lives.". In reality there isn't much change for them.
Devices:
Metaphors
"We are born with dreams in our hearts"
We are not physically born with dreams in our hearts, Jimmy Santiago is trying to tell us that we all have something that we look forward to or want to achieve.
"We came here to get away from false promises, from dictators in our neighborhoods,"
Jimmy Santiago is referring to the police who obtain power by force: arresting, shooting, and hitting people.
"Me cell is crisscrossed with laundry lines"
Jimmy Santiago isn't in a cell, he is referring to his house. He feels like his house is a cell.
Simile
"They used common sense like scholars use glasses and books to reach the world."
He is comparing smart students to scholars.

Overall this poem was great! Jimmy talks about his personal life and how the lives of the immigrants coming into the new world will not be changed drastically like they had hoped. he creates a mood and his tone is serious and depressing. After reading Jessica Parra's interpretation of the poem I got a better understanding of what the poem was about. I realized some things that I didn't even notice the first time reading it.

Sunday, November 27, 2016

My Mad Dream of an Essay

Remember that time you ate that spicy taco just before you went to bed on the night before the big carnival?  Oh, that weird dream you had about the 2016 presidential election.  When you woke up you couldn't quite remember the frightening details, but after reading "On Self-Reliance" and "A Sound of Thunder" it's all coming back to you now.

The dream started badly.  You were in line with your family at a train station waiting to be sent to Africa.  Everywhere you looked there were posters of president-elect Donald Clinton, looking like a crazy lion who could eat a whole crowd.   

Suddenly, there was Ralph Waldo Emerson telling you, "A man is his own star"  You realized that you have something to contribute to the world so you decided to change.  But it wasn't easy.  First you had to put on a fancy hat and shirt and then you had to make a car to go back in time to the library so you could convince people to learn about the candidates and their awful ideas.

But right there in the library there was a giant cat and it started attacking everyone.  People started to cry.  You grabbed a cane from a nearby senior and yelled "We are all individuals and unique!".  Everyone stopped and listened, so you kept going.

Emerson's Child

     Yourself. Being yourself is when you do not think about others judging you and do what you love. It is how you act when nobody is watching. Being yourself and trusting yourself is not something easy to do nowadays. Everyone knows who they truly are but are afraid to show their true selves because they fear that society will judge them. Emerson's main point is to forget about what others expect you to be like and focus on what makes you happy. There is nothing worse than living your whole life being someone who you are not.

     Everyone has that uniqueness in them which is what makes them different from society yet they refuse to show it. "A man is his own star" means that each one of us has like our own little world inside us that we do not show to others. We are all different and special in some way. There would be so much more diversity in our society if everyone acted the way they wanted to. When you are copying others, you are erasing your true identity and are becoming like everybody else. Emerson says,"...imitation is suicide" because you are killing your true identity when you copy others. Being like others is not what makes you special it's what makes you normal. Everyone has these standards that they have to meet up to in order to feel and look like everyone else. They look to others for approval on how to be when they should be looking for approval from within. Others do not have to accept you in order for you to feel good. You need to accept yourself.

     How can you be yourself in a society that picks on people who are different? To begin with, you first need to trust yourself. If people begin to make comments about the way that you are, ignore them because they are just trying to fit in with the rest. Being like the rest should not be anyone's goal. We were raised thinking that we should be just as good as others when in reality we need to be as good as ourselves. We need to grow up realizing that we need to make ourselves happy and not others. There is so much pressure from society to be this way and not that way. All this adds up and is how you lose yourself. Losing yourself will affect you for the rest of your life if you don't find your true identity.

     "Man is timid and apologetic", Emerson says this because we are too afraid to be different. We no longer dare to give our opinions or say what we think. Fitting in should not be your priority, it should be accepting yourself. You need to speak out when you have questions, say something when you have an opinion, and do something when it needs to be done. Do not wait for others to tell you what to do. Your life is your life. Clearly, Emerson wants everyone to be different. Do not be intimidated by others simply because they are better. If you keep copying others, later in your life you are going to regret it and feel like you wasted a lot of your time trying to be like someone else. You have to change now and let out your inner child and not conform to anybody.

     To sum it all up, yourself is that little part of you that you hide from others. It is who you truly are.   Emerson wants us to let this part of us out and show it to the world without worrying about what others will think. Do not live you whole life fixing yourself to be like everyone else. You should be happy with how you are now. When you do not accept yourself it is like you are not trusting yourself.  In the end, everyone needs to trust themselves in what they are doing.
   

   

Choices Speech

Some choices we make will end up changing our lives greatly while other choices may not affect us at all. Every day we make choices and we usually go with the choices that will make our lives easier. If you had a choice to go to a party or stay at home and finish homework which would you pick? Some may say going to a party would be better so that you wouldn't miss out on all the fun and you would enjoy yourself for a while. On the other hand, others may say finishing up your homework would be better so that you wouldn't have to stay up all night doing it. These are the kind of choices we make that don't really affect our lives. There are choices that will greatly affect our lives such as choosing who you want to become and where you want to go to college. These are the choices that you have to think more about so that you make sure you make the right decision. Right now I would say I have not made any life changing decisions but I have changed a few things in order to do better in the future. I don't really know at what age I began to worry about doing good in school but at some point I guess I realized that school will affect my future tremendously. Ever since that moment I have always tried to do my best in school and I believe that will help me in the future. This decision will greatly influence my future. Emerson's "On Self-Reliance" is all about being yourself. An example from his essay about choices is that he wants us to make our own choices rather than copying others. He believes that we have all we need and should not seek for things outside of our reach. Emerson probably thinks the choices we make now will greatly influence our future because he wants everyone to start making their own decisions. Making our own decisions will make us unique which is what we should all be. Doing the things we want will give us a sense of individualism. Emerson wants to tell us we are all different by saying "A man is his own star". In "A Sound of Thunder" the decisions the characters made would greatly affect the future. Since they went back in time, changing one small thing can change everything in the future. When the men went back in time they could not step off the path or else they would step on some grass or small animal. They had to make sure not to kill anything else other than the T-Rex. When they went back to present time they realized that the president they did not want to win the election actually won. A butterfly died and this was caused by something the men did in the past. The moral of this story was that the slightest choices we make can affect our future in either good or bad ways. Clearly, our thinking and actions we make should be taken seriously because they will affect us in some way in the future.

Sunday, November 13, 2016

An Earth Shattering Fart

Amazing story! I really enjoyed reading this story and it kept me hooked all throughout. It's mind blowing how one thing can change history in so many different ways. My favorite part was when the men were shooting the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The men shot the Tyrannosaurus Rex in the eyes and into the brain. I can't imagine being in this situation especially because of how big these dinosaurs are. I also liked where they were talking about how killing one mice may change everything in the environment in the future. I wonder if killing that mouse would have drastically changed the future for all the animals. Reading this story made me realize how my choices today can really affect my future. Not doing one thing can lead to me failing something else and finishing something up can lead to me being more successful. This story also related to the recent discussions about the elections. Many people dislike Trump and did not expect him to win presidency. In the story they talk about Keith winning presidency and how he was the better candidate. In the end, a butterfly died and then he found out that Deutscher had, in fact, won. Something they changed when they went to the past affected the presidency and led to Deutscher winning. The moral of this story could be that you should be very careful with your decisions because they can affect your future greatly. In the end, this story is very interesting and makes you think in different ways.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Emerson for the Young Buck

What I've learned so far from Emerson is that you need to trust yourself and do whatever you want to do. You shouldn't be doing things you aren't comfortable with simply because your friends are doing it. Nowadays everyone is trying to be like each other because they think that there's always someone better than them. You're the best at being yourself. Right now you need to realize that you shouldn't worry about what others will think of your actions. If you want to do something, just go for it and ignore what others will say. You need to trust yourself and find whatever makes you happy. Are you really living your life to the fullest if you're always copying others and looking for their approval?  No! You need to figure out what's right for you and not what's right for others. It doesn't matter what other people want. In the end, Emerson is clearly trying to get us to stop relying on others and instead rely on ourselves.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Emerson Said It

"Nothing can bring you peace but yourself"
With this quote I think Emerson is trying yo say you can never be happy with life if you're not happy with yourself. You should not have to look for others' approval in order to feel good. This came up in today's Socratic Seminar because we were talking about Emerson's main points and what we believed truly spoke out to us such as this quote. This quote should inspire people to accept themselves the way they are.

"What I must do is all that concerns me, not what people think"
Emerson is trying to tell us that we should not worry about what others will think of our actions and that we should do whatever we love without being judged. This quote can be very meaningful to some people because there are a lot of people out there who do stuff they don't like simply because everyone else is doing it. I think a lot of us would agree that we should not be controlled by society.

"We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which represents us"
In my opinion, I believe this means that when we are around others it is not who we truly are and are actually afraid to act like ourselves because we will be judged. If this is what Emerson is trying to say, then I agree with him because everyone acts different around people depending on who they're with. If they're with their family they act like themselves but when they're around their friends they may seem like a totally different person. We don't fully show who we really are.

"Man is timid and apologetic; he is no longer upright"
Emerson is trying to say that we as humans no longer step up for what we believe is right. We turn to others to see what is right and wrong without having our own opinions. I agree with Emerson because nowadays everyone seems to look for approval from others and not from within. There is too much extrinsic motivation going on in society.

"Every heart vibrates to that iron string"
This quote can be interpreted in many different ways and I think it has something to do about everyone being different and special in their own ways. Each one of us has the potential to be someone different in this world yet we choose to be like everybody else. We need to be our true selves and show who we truly are. When you're like everyone else you don't stand out and there's nothing special about you, so why choose to be like everyone else? Being yourself can be good and bad depending on whether you care about what others will think. Emerson wants us to be ourselves without worrying.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Contributions to Mind Map

The first thing I added on to the mind map was a quote from paragraph 1. Most of paragraph 1 has been thoroughly explained and organized on the mind map so I continued on to paragraph 2. I began with defining some terms that may cause other people to not fully understand what they're reading. Next, I added some quotes from paragraph 2 to the mind map. I am color coding this separate section so that it is easier to figure out what is vocabulary, quotes, etc. I wrote down some interesting quotes from the essay and I tried explaining what they meant in a simpler way. My view on what the quotes mean can be different from others, but I wrote what I believed they meant. As I'm working on the mind map, I realize that it's not hard at all to find things to add on to it. Any little detail or term you don't understand should be added on to the mind map just in case other people don't understand it as well. Writing things you don't understand and then explaining them, helps you learn what they mean. I'm going to continue working on the mind map tomorrow and organizing everything nicely so it's easier for others to access the information quickly.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

My American Voice

It is important to speak up when you know something is wrong and can stop it. I would consider speaking up a responsibility because everybody should be speaking up to help others. It is wrong to not help someone who is being bullied. If someone was bullying you wouldn't you want others to help you? At school, if you see someone being bullied you must notify a teacher or security. People should not be taking their temper out on someone else. They shouldn't be hitting others who are innocent. If I saw someone being abused in public I'd probably call the police right away. I'd tell the person to stop hitting them or the police would arrest them. However, sometimes it is better to observe quietly and call the police rather than confronting the abuser because you don't know if they will try to hurt you next. It can be dangerous to approach someone who is bad tempered because they may take their temper out on you. Most people don't speak up when someone is doing something wrong because they don't want to get involved. When I speak up I speak with true words. I tell people that what they're doing is wrong and that they need to stop. When I see something terrible happening I don't really think about what I'm going to say I just try to stop it as fast as I can.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Vocabulary: Fall List #6

Definitions

Meme: a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition and replication in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes.
Virus: a type of malicious software program that, when executed, replicates by reproducing itself or infecting other computer programs by modifying them.
Viral: pertaining to or involving the spread of information and opinions about a product or service from person to person, especially on the internet or though emails.
Blog: a website containing a writer's or group of writer's own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having links and images to other websites.
Wiki: a website that allows anyone to add, delete, or revise content by using a web browser.
URL(Uniform Resource Locator): a protocol for specifying addresses on the Internet.
Website: a connected group of pages on the World Wide Web regarded as a single entity, usually maintained by one person or organization and devoted to a single topic or several closely related topics.
WWW: World Wide Web
Internet: a vast computer network linking smaller computer networks worldwide.
2.0: used post-positively to denote a revised or improved version of the original.
Open Source: pertaining to or denoting software whose source code is available free of charge to the public to use, copy, modify, sub-license, or distribute.

Sentences

There were many funny memes on the internet about Trump and Clinton after the Presidential Debate.
The virus on my computer caused it to flash on and off constantly and did not let me open any programs.
This news went viral after it offended a vast majority of the public.
He has never created a blog before and doesn't think it is necessary.
When she researches stuff for a project she never uses a wiki website because it is not credible.
Send me the URL after you're done editing so that I can proofread your changes.
I recommend you use this website because it provides a lot of credible information.
You don't always have to type in www when searching for a website.
Whenever she needs to find information she goes to the internet and searches for it.
The web 2.0 is modified and improved to be much better than the original.
An open source will allow all of us to share our ideas with each other and edit our work.

Monday, October 10, 2016

Team Vocab

When it comes to the elections of this year, many people can anticipate these two candidates to surely accuse each other from doings of the past. Each candidate tries to remain stolid, but Hillary definitely out beats Trump. It's aggravating because Trump and Hillary are constantly sticking their proboscis into everyone's business and venomously attacking each other. With each debate, America is left suspended to watch the next one just to see the two yell at each other. Both candidates try to hypnotize the world into thinking they're fit to be president trying to prove that they can transform the world into something greater, but they simply just illuminate each other's faults.

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Mentor Letter Draft 1

Dear Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry,

You are a great mentor for my Big Question because you wrote an article about what it would be like if there were no public schools. This is very similar to my Big Question which was, "What would the world be like if there was no school?". I read your article on The Week and you shared many different predictions as to what would happen. These predictions were reasonable and they made sense to me. I like how you organized the effects it would have on people depending on their social status. I agree with some of your predictions and they help answer parts of my Big Question. It seems like your a great writer since you've written over 100 articles for many different magazines and news. Thanks to you, I now have more ideas as to what would happen to the world if there was no school.
       
                                                                                                             Sincerely,
                                                                                                                 Daniel Espinoza



Essay 1 Revised

After reading my colleagues' work and sharing ideas, I realized I could improve my first essay by making my counterargument an actual paragraph instead of starting it half ways through and fixing some of my sentences to make more sense. I could also talk about patriotism in my introduction paragraph so that it's not all about personal relations right away. I'm proud of the result. Hope you enjoy reading it!


A HUG IS NEARLY  A GUN SPELLED BACKWARDS

     I agree with E.M Foster's view that personal relations are more important than patriotism. Personal relations are close connections between people, formed by emotional bonds and experiences, while patriotism is one's love for their country. The relationship between people is much more sophisticated than patriotism. Especially with people who have maintained the same friends since childhood. People trust others who they have know for a longer period of time. This is understandable due to the fact that they have more experience with them and know them more. People hug, kiss, and make gestures to each other to show their feelings and emotions to the other person. As you get to know someone, you develop a relationship with them and you become more comfortable around them. With patriotism, you just show that you love your country, and in my experience I see more people have personal relations than patriotism.

      It is important to have personal relations with people so that you are not lonely and have someone to go to for help. Without personal relations people would be more antisocial and have a harder time becoming a great person. Personal relations develop when you show people that you are there for them and that you genuinely care about them. Patriotism, on the other hand, is one's love for their country or homeland. When someone shows patriotism they are showing other people that they care about their country and that they are grateful for living there. Patriotism is sort of like a relationship with your country. Some examples are, being involved in elections, and focusing on things that will make your country better. You also look at how you benefit from your country and the things it has accomplished to make it seem better, such as Independence Day. Another example of patriotism is the Pledge of Allegiance. The Pledge of Allegiance is voluntary and is a way to show your love for your country. In our class, the Pledge of Allegiance isn't played over the intercom because it is turned off. This was done to allow more time in our class, but for some patriotic people it may have offended them.

      Some may argue that patriotism is the most important thing for people to possess, but is it really?  I don't really see many people saying and showing that they love their country nowadays. Yes, most of us celebrate the 4th of July to celebrate independence but to me it seems like a way to empower personal relations even more. On the 4th of July my whole family comes together to eat dinner and light up fireworks. We build stronger personal relations with each other by talking and sharing experiences. In a way, patriotism even brings people closer together. Being patriotic is not at all bad but I believe personal relations are much more important. Imagine if you did not have any friends but there were signs of patriotism all around you. Wouldn't you become sad and annoyed by all these patriotic people? Now imagine having plenty of personal relations with the people around you but there being no patriotism. See, it is much better to have relationships with friends and people than to be around patriotism all the time.

       It is obvious that there are personal relations around you everywhere. The way you show that you genuinely care about people can be physical and/or verbal. Everyday you see people hugging, kissing, or talking with friends. Patriotism is not as popular. You more commonly see signs of Patriotism around the 4th of July, elections and big events. Occasionally you see people who even hang the American flag on their porches. In the end, it is reasonable to assume that people would believe personal relations are much more important than patriotism.

Monday, October 3, 2016

Vocabulary: fall list #5

Definitions

venomous: able to inflict a poisoned bite, sting, or wound
stolid: not easily stirred or moved mentally
hypnotized: to influence, control, or direct completely, as by personal charm, words, or domination
suspended: to hang by attachment to something above
transformed: to change in form, appearance, or structure
accuse: to charge with the fault, offense, or crime
anticipate: to realize beforehand; foretaste or foresee
fringe: an outer edge; margin
melancholy: a gloomy state of mind especially when habitual or prolonged; depression
earnestly: serious in intention, purpose, or effort
dissolve: to melt; liquefy
aggravate: to annoy; irritate
illuminate: to supply or brighten with light
capillary: pertaining to or occurring in or as if in a tube of fine bore
proboscis: any long flexible snout, as of the tapir

Sentences

As we walked through the woods, we encountered a venomous snake, which tried to bite us.
The stolid child did not cry when his pet fish died.
A man was being hypnotized by a woman into dancing in front of many people.
The swing was suspended by a rope from the tree while the kids were swinging on it.
The old house was transformed into a mansion for the new family.
She accused him of stealing her money when he passed by but he ran away before she could call the police.
She had been anticipating her delivery for many months now and it finally arrived .
The fringe of the door was all torn up and had many holes in it which allowed bugs to crawl through in the night.
The melancholy child didn't want to do anything for a whole year after his dog died.
She was earnestly trying to get the best grades in her classes so that she could go to a great university.
He dissolved the sugar in the coffee on a cold icy morning to heat himself up.
The parrot was aggravating all the people walking by when it wouldn't stop screeching.
After entering the cave, the workers illuminated the inside with flashlights and continued searching for the missing child.
Everyone has a capillary tube which is a minute blood vessel between the terminations of the arteries and the beginnings of the veins..
The elephant's proboscis picked up grass from the floor after the zookeeper threw the grass in.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

A HUG IS NEARLY A GUN SPELLED BACKWARDS

     I agree with E.M Foster's view that personal relations are more important than patriotism. Personal relations are close connections between people, formed by emotional bonds and experiences. The relationship between people is much more sophisticated than patriotism. Especially with people who have maintained the same friends since childhood. People trust others who they have know for a longer period of time more. This is understandable due to the fact that they have more experience with them and know them more. People hug, kiss, and make gestures to each other to show their feelings and emotions to the other person. As you get to know someone, you develop a relationship with them and you become more comfortable around them.
   
      It is important to have personal relations with people so that you aren't lonely and have someone to go to for help. Without personal relations people would be more antisocial and have a harder time becoming a great person. Personal relations develop when you show people that you're there for them and that you genuinely care about them. Patriotism, on the other hand, is one's love for their country or homeland. When someone shows patriotism they are showing other people that they care about their country and that they are grateful for living there. Patriotism is sort of like a relationship with your country. Some examples could be that you're involved in elections, and focus on things that will make your country better. You also look at how you benefit from your country and the things it has accomplished to make it seem better, such as Independence Day. Another example of patriotism is the Pledge of Allegiance. The Pledge of Allegiance is voluntary and is a way to show you love your country. In our class, the Pledge of Allegiance isn't played over the intercom because it is turned off. This was done to allow more time in our class but for some patriotic people it may have offended them.

      Being patriotic is not at all bad but I believe personal relations are much more important. Imagine if you didn't have any friends but there were signs of patriotism all around you. Wouldn't you become sad and annoyed by all these patriotic people? Now imagine having plenty of personal relations with the people around you but there being no patriotism. See, it's much better to have relationships with friends and people than to be around patriotism only. Some may argue that patriotism is the most important thing for people to possess, but is it really?  I don't really see many people saying and showing that they love their country nowadays. Yes, most of us celebrate the 4th of July to celebrate independence but to me it seems like a way to empower personal relations even more. On the 4th of July my whole family comes together to eat dinner and light up fireworks. We build stronger personal relations with each other by talking and sharing experiences. In a way, patriotism even brings people closer together.

       It is obvious that there are personal relations around you everywhere. The way you show that you genuinely care about people can be physical,verbal, or even both. You can hug or kiss someone, you can tell someone you love them, or you can hug them and say you love them. However, Patriotism isn't as popular. You more commonly see signs of Patriotism around the 4th of July, elections and big events. Occasionally you see people who even hang the American flag on their porches. In the end, it is reasonable to assume that people would believe personal relations are much more important than patriotism.

Monday, September 26, 2016

MISTAKES FOR PRESIDENT

As I begin watching the Presidential Debate I am informed that it is the first time Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton meet face to face to talk about what they want to do to help America. I am beginning to watch the first segment in which the presidential nominees will be asked questions and expected to answer truthfully. As they begin answering the questions Donald Trump is so focused on immigrants and other countries harming our economy to help themselves. Hillary Clinton is more focused on increasing taxes on the wealthy and making investments and producing jobs for people. She begins attacking Donald's views in an attempt to make herself look better. When they are asked a specific question they just begin talking about other stuff and kind of try to change the subject. They don't really know how to answer the question. Donald begins attacking Hillary saying that in the past 30 years she has not done anything like what she is now saying she will do. This is where they begin attacking each other more fiercely. Instead of saying what the best for America is they just talk about the bad stuff the other nominee has done. Hillary even promotes her book.They are trying to effectively persuade the audience to vote for them. This looks more like children fighting over something rather than adults talking about their views. Watching this debate made me realize that neither of these candidates deserve to be president.

Monday, September 19, 2016

Big Question Disciplines

What would the world be like if there was no school? That is my Big Question. Some disciplines that could inform my big question are people who don't go to school and places that don't provide any form of education for their community. This way I'll get an example of how different these peoples' lives are than others who do go to school or have some form of education. I would also be able to see how their society and economy works differently.

Fall Vocab 4

Definitions

adroit: cleverly skillful, resourceful
amicable: friendly; peaceable
averse: having a strong feeling of opposition
belligerent: warlike; given to waging war
benevolent: desiring to help others
cursory: going rapidly over something, without noticing details
duplicity: an act or instance of such deceitfulness
extol: to praise highly
feasible: capable of being done, accomplished
grimace: a facial expression, often ugly or contorted, that indicates disapproval
holocaust: a great or complete devastation or destruction , especially by fire
impervious: incapable of being injured or impaired
impetus: a moving force; impulse
jeopardy: peril or danger
meticulous: showing extreme care about minute details
nostalgia: a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former time or place
quintessence: the pure and concentrated essence of a single substance
retrogress: to move backward
scrutinize: to examine in detail with careful or critical attention
tepid: moderately warm

Sentences

The adroit teenager was able to survive in the wild all alone for a whole year.
The amicable person helped me find the store I was looking for.
His aversion to her opinion cause them to get into a fight.
The belligerent king led his empire to victory after conquering neighboring civilizations.
She is such a benevolent person yet she focuses more on helping others than herself.
His cursory caused him to fail the test since he didn't read through carefully.
Her duplicity caused him to never trust her again.
The ancient people used to extol many different gods and they even sacrificed people.
This project seems very difficult but it is feasible.
He automatically knew she didn't like his idea after he saw her grimace.
There was a holocaust there a long time ago and many people died.
The impervious child was taking to a laboratory for further testing.
He quickly felt the impetus against his chest and he couldn't breathe.
She wouldn't jeopardize her family's life for anything.
She is so meticulous about her homework which in turn gets her good grades.
My nostalgia makes me feel like moving back to my old house and city.
The quintessence of this substance caused her to get dizzy.
The driver retrogressed slowly after running over a deer.
She scrutinized over the paragraph before commencing on the test.
The water was tepid when he hopped into the bathtub.



Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Vocabulary #3 Definitions and Sentences

Definitions

catharsis: relieving emotional tensions, through certain kinds of art
taboo: proscribed by society as improper or unacceptable
sordid: meanly selfish, self seeking; dirty or filthy
swindle: to cheat out of money or other assets
frivolous: characterized by lack of seriousness or sense
inadvertently: unintentional
incendiary: tending to arouse strife, sedition; inflammatory
jargon: unintelligible or meaningless talk or writing
colloquialism: informal use of language
archaism: the survival or presence of something from the past
cudgel: a short thick stick used as a weapon
egregious: extraordinary in some bad way
anesthetize: to render physically insensible
euphonious: pleasant in sound
scrupulous: minutely careful, precise, or exact
perverted: turned from what is right; wicked
superfluous: being more than what is sufficient or required; excessive
Saxon: an English person: Britisher
slovenly: untidy or unclean in appearance or habits
provocation: something that irritates or angers


Sentences

Her catharsis helped her deal with her emotions and get on with life.
There are so many things considered taboo in our society these days that anything we do could offend people.
I've met sordid people in the past who ask for things but never share or give back.
The store across tried to swindle us and eventually foreclose our store.
Her frivolous attitude irritated the teacher so he kicked her out of the classroom.
She inadvertently ran over the pedestrian when she was driving to the emergency room.
The incendiary words convinced her and changed her mind about it.
All this jargon is confusing me and is not allowing me to fully understand their point.
There is so much colloquialism in articles that it seems like nobody proofreads them.
The archaism of a few words will allow us to talk like before and communicate easier. 
She immediately got the cudgel to threaten him.
Your powers are egregious because you may use them in a harmful way.
The vet had to anesthetize he cat in order to continue with the procedure.
Most songs have lyrics that are euphonious and that sound good.
The scrupulous measurements helped build this house perfectly.
The person has been perverted from being exposed to so much crime and violence.
The superfluous fruits went to waste because they couldn't eat them in time.
The Saxon greeted me at the store.
The slovenly boy had a messy room and never took showers.
The reason for the dog's attack was your provocation with the stick.

Thursday, September 8, 2016

IM READING BIG BROTHER


  • People believe that language is a natural growth and not an instrument which we shape for our own purposes.
  • The English language is becoming ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish and the slovenliness of our language makes it easier to have foolish thoughts.
  • English language is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and can be avoided if one is willing to take the change.
  • Dying Metaphors is a metaphor which is technically 'dead' and has in effect been reverted to an ordinary word.
  • Operators or verbal false limbs are phrases that replace simple words such as break, stop, spoil.
  • Pretentious diction is when people use words to seem more fancy, smarter, or give an air of culture and elegance.
  • Meaningless words are words that don't really have a purpose in a sentence and are just there to add to the sentence.
  • Often writers confuse their audience because they use so many euphemisms and other phrases that don't correlate with what they're talking about.
  • People write things that can be explained so easily in a much sophisticated way to seem more intelligent.
  • Modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in using words that are already known and used by so many people.
  • More syllables in sentences are being created because more words are being put in to replace simpler words.
  • If you use ready-made phrases, you not only don't have to hunt about for the words; you also don't have to bother with the rhythms of your sentences since these phrases are generally so arranged as to be more or less euphonious.  
  • The sole aim of a metaphor is to create a visual image in someone's head.
  • It is broadly true that political writing is bad writing. Where it is not true, it will generally be found that the writer is some kind of rebel.
  • Political language has to consist largely of euphemism and sheer cloudy vagueness because of the awful things that sometimes have to be said.
  • If thought can corrupt language, then language can also corrupt thought.
  • The worst thing one can do with words is to surrender to them.
  • Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
  • Never use a long word where a short one will do.
  • If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out
  • Never use the passive when you can use the active.
  • These rules demand a deep change of attitude in anyone who has grown used to writing in the style now fashionable.
  • Language is an instrument for expressing and not for concealing or preventing thought.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Bad Words

What makes words bad? In my opinion, a word is bad when it offends someone. Most people don't like offending others so they use adequate words when they communicate with each other. Everyone has different opinions on which words are bad depending on their experience. For example, I remember when I was in kindergarten a girl said the word "ugly" and all the other kids were like "oooooh you said ugly" because based on what they knew, it was a bad word. Now that we have grown, "ugly" isn't such a bad word, its simply an adjective. You can see that any word can be bad depending on how someone views it. I believe that bad words are not bad, they are just a harsher way of saying something. For example, some may say a dog is not smart while others may say a dog is stupid which is harsher. People become offended by these harsher words which is why they call them bad. Often euphemisms are created to make something bad seem better or not as harsh. An example from the video we watched today would be that Shell Shock became known as Battle Fatigue then Operational Exhaustion and finally Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. It is appropriate to use euphemisms when you're talking to someone you know becomes easily offended or when you talk to someone you don't really know. Euphemisms become confusing when you make something sound so much different than what you really mean. Our language has changed so much over the years. Words are replacing other words and the original words begin to lose their meaning and are not used often. Another thing that makes words bad is when you're saying them in front of an inappropriate audience. People should not be saying harsh words in front of young children because then the children will be saying them to their parents and get in trouble. Why say harsh words when you can make something seem better? Personally, I don't say bad words often and when I do it's probably on accident or because I just really needed to let it out. I am used to not saying bad words because my parents would always discipline me if I ever said them. I don't understand why it's so bad to say bad words if it doesn't hurt anyone. If somebody said bad words in front of me I wouldn't be offended because I hear bad words everywhere everyday. I don't really care what words people use to communicate with me. Overall, bad words are the ones that offend people and hurt feelings.

Thursday, September 1, 2016

To all students (Satire)

Do you feel like the educational system isn't set up right? Do you feel like you are being forced to do things that are going to be useless later on in life? Well now I have a way to resolve this issue and make everybody happy about going to school. To start off, schools shouldn't be something kids dislike, it should be something they look forward to. My resolution to this is to reduce the amount of days we have to go to school and have much less homework so that students have more time to do other activities. In my opinion, the weekend is too short and doesn't provide enough time to do the things you want. Students still stress out about school on the weekends because they either got homework on Friday or there is a huge test coming up that they need to study for. The classrooms make you feel like you're trapped in a box and forced to listen to a teacher and if you don't, your future will be ruined. Most students feel like if they don't do well in school their life in the future will be miserable and they give up right on the spot. My idea of a great way to run the school system is to let students do their work whenever they want so that they're not pressured and stressed out. We should be able to do our homework calmly so that we can actually learn what were doing and not have to rush through it just to get enough sleep. Teachers say that they know we get homework in other classes but do they really understand how much we get and how hard it can get? I just wish they could live a day being a student in this generation and have advanced courses and important tests so that they can see how difficult it is. Also, a few teachers say stuff like,"I'm feeling nice today so I'm only going to assign problems 1 though 30". This is nonsense because if the teacher was really feeling nice they wouldn't give us homework at all. There should be one week of school where the teachers become students and the students become the teachers so that teachers can really understand how it is to be us. On this week students will assign the teachers loads of homework and test them on plenty of different things. In order to learn more and memorize things better, students should be able to do their homework when they're ready for it and teachers should not pressure them. The school system is so broken because not all students are equipped with the required skills to do well in school. Some students just don't have the ability to be as good as others. The school system is not fair and students should protest. Students should be able to go to whatever classes they want and come to school whenever they feel like it. If someone wants to get a career, then let them come to school as many days as they like. If someone wants to work at a fast food restaurant then don't be forcing them to learn useless stuff that they don't need. Everybody should be able to choose the level of education they need and want. A new setup in schools should be that students shouldn't be forced to participate in activities they don't feel like because this only makes them hate school even more. If you think about it, most students dislike school simply because of the fact that they get a lot of homework and that school is too long. Like I said before, the best way to resolve this is by having less school days and less homework. There should only be 3 days of school a week from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Another thing would be to reduce the amount of periods from six to four. Another reason why students dislike school is that they have to get up early. Entering at 10:00 AM will fix this issue. My final idea for fixing the school system is to not have school at all. Parents should all stay home and teach their kids everything they know. The parents will be paid and the students will be much more comfortable working and learning at home. Imagine staying at home with your siblings and learning everything you need to know from your parents. This would be the best solution in my opinion and there would be more jobs for other people who don't have kids. To expand on this, parents would be getting paid more than minimum wage and their kids would be learning everything they need to know at the same time. Your parents were your first teachers now why not have them be your only teachers forever? Like this, people would be more comfortable learning and could have everything they need right at home. Students wouldn't need to be carrying their heavy backpacks across campus and some wouldn't have to walk to and from school everyday. In the end, there are many ways to fix the educational system and us students should be the ones to choose how to fix it. Who's with me?!


Written by a concerned student

                                                                                                           

Monday, August 29, 2016

Vocabulary #2 Definitions

Definitions

intercedeto act or interpose in behalf of someone in difficulty or trouble, as by pleading or petition.
hackneyed: made commonplace or trite; stale; banal
approbation: approval; commendation
innuendo: and indirect intimation about a person or thing, especially of a disparaging or a derogatory nature
coalition: a combination or alliance, especially a temporary one between persons, factions, states
elicit: to draw or bring out or forth; educe; evoke
hiatus: a break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action
assuage: to make milder or less severe; relieve; ease; mitigate
decadence: the act or process of falling into an inferior condition or state; deterioration
expostulate: to reason earnestly with someone against something that person intends to do or has done
simulate: to create a simulation
jadeddulled or satiated by overindulgence
umbrageoffense; annoyance; displeasure
prerogativean exclusive right, privilege, exercised by virtue of rank, office, or the like
luridgruesome; horrible; revolting
transcendto rise above or go beyond; overpass; exceed
provincialbelonging or peculiar to some particular province; local
petulantmoved to or showing sudden, impatient irritation, especially over some trifling annoyance
unctuouscharacterized by excessive piousness or moralistic fervor, especially inan affected manner; excessively smooth, suave, or smug
meritoriousdeserving praise, reward, esteem; praiseworthy

Vocabulary #2 Sentences



Sentences

The principal had to intercede with the teacher to discipline the students.
They were looking at the hackneyed photos he took.
He was able to go to the party with his friends after he got approbation from his parents.
The innuendo on the front cover of the magazine caused chaos.
Many people form coalitions in order to help one another and succeed in something.
There are some games that are elicit because they evoke strong emotions.
His siblings were a hiatus when he was working on his homework.
She tried to assuage her wound so that it would heal faster and hurt less.
The decadence of that metal is causing it to become useless.
he tried to expostulate her from cheating on the final exam.
She tried to simulate how it would be to live in the 1800's.
His hunger became jaded after he ate some fries and a burger.
The umbrage of having crying children around her made her stressed out.
The prerogative the boss gave him allowed him to do whatever he wanted for one day.
The lurid movie I watched gave me nightmares for a whole week.
In order to get home he had to transcend the biggest mountain in the world.
That stray dog is provincial because I always see it around here.
The petulant sun melted my ice cream on a sunny day.
Her skin felt unctuous after she took a shower.
The smartest kids in class are meritorious because they work the hardest and dedicate their time to school.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Satire Project Idea

For my satire project I am going to write a document about the educational system. I am going to write a document so that I can really get into detail about the educational system and how to fix it. Writing a document will help others understand better what I am talking about. The most effective tone for my satire will be sarcasm and a little bit of seriousness. Throughout the document I am going to talk about how perfect the educational system already is and how sticking people into boxes  and forcing them to listen to someone is a great way to teach in order to show my sarcasm. I am also going to be a bit serious so that people actually believe my way of solving the problem. In my writing I am going to use easy, simple words that fifth graders can understand so that everyone can really understand what I'm trying to say. The topic of my satire project is going to be about the educational system.

Vocabulary #1 Definitions

theme: the central topic a text treats
tone: quality of character of sound
mood: a state of quality of feeling at a particular time
diction: style of speaking or writing as dependent upon choice of words
syntax: the study or rules for the formation of grammatical sentences in language
syllogism: deductive reasoning
stupid: lacking ordinary quickness and keenness of mind, dull
adumbrate: to produce a faint image or resemblance of; to outline or sketch
apotheosis: the evaluation or exaltation of a person to the rank of god
ascetic: a person who dedicates his or her life to a pursuit of contemplative ideals and practices extreme self-denial or self-mortification for religious reasons.
bauble: a showy usually cheap, ornament
beguile: to influence by trickery, flattery
burgeon: to grow or develop quickly
complement: something that completes or makes perfect
contumacious: stubbornly perverse or rebellious
curmudgeon: a bad tempered, difficult, cantankerous person
didactic: intended for instruction
disingenuous: lacking in sincerity
exculpate: to clear from a charge of guilt or fault free from blame
faux pas: a slip or blunder  in manners
fulminate: to explode with a loud noise
fustian: a stout fabric of cotton and flax
hauteur: haughty manner or spirit; arrogance
inhibit: to restrain, hinder, arrest, or check
jeremiad: a prolonged lamentation or mournful complaint
opportunist: a person who practices opportunism, or the policy of adapting actions
unconscionable: not guided by conscience: unscrupulous

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

"The Conscience of the Hacker" Response

In this article, The Mentor is a hacker speaking out about people doing what they're told to do and not what they want to. He says that people who are seeking after knowledge and exploration are often called criminals. He's basically saying that people can't be curious and search for information. The Mentor admits that he is criminal and that his crime is that of curiosity. His message to the people is that were not given enough freedom to become smarter and better. The Mentor says, "My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for.", meaning that people are offended by people smarter than them. This is why people who seek information are criminals, because they will be smarter and better than others. To some people this is a crime because they believe everyone should be equal. Another thing he mentioned in the article is that some things are messed up because you made them like that, not because they don't like you. His example was the computer being mistaken because he messed it up, not because the computer felt threatened. Clearly, The Mentor wants people to break out of their usual routine and seek information and knowledge to become better people.

I Can Read! "Fox in Socks" By Dr. Suess



This is me reading, "Fox in Socks", By Dr. Seuss. I found about 4 mistakes in the video.
This book is a bit hard to read because there are so many tongue twisters but overall it was a great book.

Thursday, August 18, 2016

"A Modest Proposal" Response

In the article,"A Modest Proposal", Jonathan Swift uses satire to send a message and solve a crisis in Ireland. Jonathan claims that there are too many poor people, sick people, and thieves in his home country. He comes up with an idea to solve this problem and lessen the population so that less thieves are born into this world. His proposal is to sell and eat babies. He begins going into detail on how these babies would be sold and whether they would be better sold alive like pork or dead. In my opinion, this idea is so wrong and many people would probably rebel if this ever became true. He also mentions that at one year old is when the babies would be the tastiest.  Although Jonathan has a point that there would be less thieves coming into this world, it is not normal for humans to become cannibals and eat and sell their own babies. In the article, Jonathan's tone is so serious it almost makes you think that he is a really sick person mentally. I can't imagine a normal human being saying that eating babies would be great for society and help improve the country. Overall, Jonathan was using satire with a serious tone to be more convincing to the audience and readers.

My Big Question

What would the world be like if there was no school? Would anyone ever accomplish anything or do anything anymore?  Would people come up with their own ways to become an educated person? In my opinion, school can be a bit difficult at some times but I can't imagine how life would be without ever having school.

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Everything's Amazing!

In the video, Louis is using satire to send a message to the viewers. He claims that everything is amazing yet nobody's happy. He believes that people are taking things for granted and aren't really thankful enough for all of the things they have. One example from the video is when he talks about people whining about their phone not being fast enough. He would say to give it a second because their phone is actually doing something much more advanced and intelligent than they give it credit for. Louis remembers how back when he was young he would have to use the rotary phones and you would have to stand right next to the phone the whole time.  Nowadays you can use your phone wherever you want whenever you want. It's amazing how a device so small, that can easily fit in your pocket, can hold so much information from around the world. Louis also talks about people whining about airplane flights taking too long when they should really be thankful for getting a ride to any place around the world in a short amount of time. He  also jokes about the people who get angry because the seats won't go any more back. He believes that people should be much more excited about riding in planes. In the end, Louis' main message was to be thankful for everything you have and to not complain about simple little things in life.

"The Laughing Heart" Recital


Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Satire Example #3

I believe this is an example of satire because it's ironic how the car driver has a bumper sticker saying, "Please be kind to cyclists", yet they ran over a bike. 

Satire Example #2



I believe this is an example of satire because this is making fun of Sia's name, considering that she almost always hides her face.

Satire Example #1


I believe this is an example of satire because this is making fun of people who don't get a lot of texts from their friends or family and they look for other reasons as to why they're not receiving texts.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

"The Right to Your Opinion" Response

My response towards,"The Right to Your Opinion", by Jamie Whyte is that everyone can have there own opinion, but that doesn't mean they're right. Simply saying that you're entitled to your own opinion doesn't win you the argument or make you correct. Everyone has the right to their own opinion, meaning that they can think whatever they want even though they may be wrong. Like Jamie Whyte said, when someone says they're entitled to their own opinion, it's a hint that the person has realized they're wrong and don't want to admit it. Nobody likes losing and when it comes to arguments you want to back up your opinion with plenty of evidence. When you hear what the other person has to say about a certain situation you begin to think to yourself, "maybe I am wrong". When this thought goes through your head you try to find a way out of it like saying, "I'm entitled to my own opinion", to end the argument. In conclusion, it's OK for everyone to have their own  opinions, but to start arguments, not knowing whether you're right or wrong, is where it's a bad thing.

"The Laughing Heart" Response

My response towards ,"The Laughing Heart", by Charles Bukowski is that there is so much more to life than you expect. You can't be letting other people bring you down or make you feel horrible. You decide what your life is like, not others. Bukowski is trying to inspire people with this poem, he wants people to know that there is a meaning to life. In the poem he says," it may not be much light, but it beats the darkness", in a way to show that holding on to something is better than holding on to nothing. The more you try new things and explore new ideas, the more success there will be for you. I feel like this poem has a deeper meaning to it and is supposed to be interpreted in so many different ways by people.  This poem can inspire a lot of people, especially the lonely and suffering ones.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog everyone! I will be posting my ideas, opinions, responses, and much more stuff on here.