Raiders!

I am responding to my son Camel 

So, this year has been a breakout year for the Oakland Raiders. Their current record is at 4-4 (four wins and four losses) and its been a LOOOONG time since I have seen them with four wins this early in the season. Considering there are sixteen games in one NFL season, the Oakland Raiders are one win away from tying the most wins that they have had in the last seven seasons after they went to the Superbowl in 2002.

For some reason the Raiders always find a way to disappoint their fans. For some reason the Raiders always find a way to lose at the last minute. They might be winning by eight points saying that the opposite team needs a touchdown and a two point conversion and it might be 45 second left on the clock and somehow the Raiders lose. I am a huge Raiders fan, but when they do this, it really disappoints me because I know that they are a better team and that they could do way better!

But this does not mean that I do not love the Raiders. I really believe that the Raiders are going to the play-ffs this year and they are going to be Superbowl material by next season. So far this season is the best record they have had since 2002 when they last went to the Superbowl. This season says a lot about them. It says that they are capable of competing and beating the ton teams in the NFL. It proves that they are capable of doing more than what they are given credit for.

I believe that this is the beginning of a new and improved Raiders team and Mr. Fargher doesn't know what he is talking about. He always has something smart to say about the Raiders when he clearly goes for the weakest team in the NFL, the 49er's. I think that Fargher should just stop talking mess about the Raiders and start rooting for them again because deep down inside his heart, he know that RAIDERS ARE THE BEST TEAM IN THE NFL!

Hunger Games pt.3

In the final part to Hunger Games, me and my groups spoke about our predictions for the next book, Catching Fire.


We mainly discussed about who we thought that Katniss would really end up with in the end of all of the Games. Was she going to choose Peeta and Gale? Throughout the Hunger Games in the arena, Katniss was confused on who she was going to stay with. She was always doubting if Peeta really loved her or was he doing it for the cameras by playing the game right. We wondered if when Gale was watching the games on television, was he jealous of the relationship that Katniss and Peeta had formed? Was he angry? What would be his first reaction when he would see Katniss again or would he not care?


The question that came up was what happened to the tributes that were mutated after they killed Cato? The mutation had just came out of no where and when they finished their job, they just left. Were they just an object to the Games or were they the advantage and support that Katniss and Peeta needed in order to win the Hunger Games


The most surprising part that stood out for me was the fact that Katniss did Peeta wrong throughout the Games. In the end, she finally admitted to him that she only pretended to love him in the arena as a method to survive throughout the Hunger Games. My entire group thought that Katniss was really serious in the beginning when she first found Peeta in the Hunger Games. She always had mixed feelings and although she thought that Peeta was playing the game the whole time, it was really her that had played him. If Katniss was just doing for the game, why didn't Katniss just leave Peeta throughout the game when he was such a burden? If she really just pretended to love Peeta to come out victorious from the game, why didn't Katniss kill him the first chance that she got to?


We also talked about how we didn't really like the book. There was not enough excitement as I expected. Katniss basically just hid to not get killed and she did little to nothing as in killing others to win.  

Hunger Games pt. 2

In the second discussion of Hunger Games, my group mainly talked about how the Capitol and the districts of Panem are somewhat like the government of America. We were talking about how district 13 rebelled against the Capitol which shows how citizens rebel against their government.In situation with the Capitol and the districts, the districts are being put down by the greater power and for that the rebellion began.

The reason for the games is to mainly entertain the people of the Capitol. They put people in the game tokill each other and that's how the people of the Capitol get entertained. The government doesn't care for their people and they will just put anyone there so they could get killed.

We can see a connection throughout the first and second part to the book. In the first part, that chapter ends with Peeta admitting that he is in love with Katniss. Now, the second part to the book ends with Katniss calling out for Peeta. Katniss learns that two people were allowed to survive the games this year. In return for everything that Peeta had did for Katniss, Katniss now wanted to help him survive with her help. This mainly shows that Katniss started to develop more feelings for Peeta since they are going through a lot with the games and also, the love that he claims he has for Katniss plays a factor in this situation they are put in.

Katniss shows the sign of rebellion when she does a real ceremony for Rue's death during the games. In doing this, Katniss put Rue flowers in the Hunger Games arena and then she sang the song that Rue would sing to get the people to stop working for the day back in her district. This is a sign of rebellion because no one on the previous games has ever done that and also, the people who take part in the Games shouldn't show compassion for someone who they would end up having to kill.

My predictions for the end of the book is that they will both come out of the games alive. Since they have already showed that they have love for each other, I think that they will end up being together if they both get out of the Hunger Games.

My Future, No Regrets

I responded to Shiyun's post about the future.

     What does future mean? What is the future that awaits us all? I have been thinking about my future recently and thought that there is no answer to what that will await me. There is no way I would know what my future will be like, for I have to decide that myself. For every decision that I make in life, there will be a result to things. No one can really change what they have done or go back to the past and start over again. We will also have to look at the road ahead and make better decisions.

Shiyun is right when she says that she doesn't know what will happen in her future, but that she could change her future at any moment that she wants. When people make certain decisions in their lives, then that is what shapes them as a person in the future. I know that if I were to make bad choices in my life now, then that will affect my life later on.

In the same matter, I always say that I don't regret anything that I do in my life and its true. I think that people should never live their life with regrets for anything because the decisions that they made is what brought them to where they are in life right now. I do not regret anything that I have done in my lifetime. Sometimes I did make some stupid decisions, but I would never change none of that. If I wouldn't have made those specific choices, then I wouldn't be what I am today: happy.

I honestly don't know what's going to happen with me in the future. I do not know what I am going to do later on, but I am not worried. Although I do have goals that I have set for myself, they don't always work out the way we want them to. Either way, I know that I will make the right choices sooner or later. Even if I do mess up sometimes in life in the way I do things, I still will never regret anything in my future. People that live their lives with regrets are unhappy in the present day because they always wish they could turn back the clock and not make those mistakes. I could never be like that.

Hunger Games pt 1

During our discussion, my group talked about many parts of our book, Hunger Games. Overall, it was a good discussion and I learned a lot of new things from my group.

Hunger Games is a story of the future of America, where there are 12 districts instead. Every year, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12-18 from every district compete in a challenge located in the Capitol called the Hunger Games, in which they must fight until the last one standing. The winner walks away with food and prizes for their districts. Katniss, the main character chooses to stand in for her sister during the games. The boy who will accompany her will be a boy she barely knows, Peeta.

We all talked about many topics on our book and how we feel about it. Some of the subjects that came up was the fact that Peeta was generous to Katniss before he even knew her. There was an event in which Katniss needed food for her family and on purpose, Peeta had burned the bread so he can throw it out and give it to Katniss. This was about 4 years before the Hunger Games and it shows that Peeta's character is supposed to be nice and caring no matter what.

The most thought provoking question that came up within our group discussion was what was going to happen to  Katniss' and Peeta's relationship?Does Katniss really have the guts to kill Peeta in the games after he has been so nice to her? And does Katniss really believe Peeta when he says that he loves her?

The most thoughtful responses that we had to these questions was that we predicted that the relationship between Peeta and Katniss can go both ways. Either they will hate each other during the games, especially Katniss, just so it would be easier to kill him at the end. Or, Katniss will be convinced that Peeta does love her.

I thought that later on in the book, Katniss wouldn't kill Peeta because he will turn out to be such a great person that she couldn't bear to do that to him.Also, I thought that maybe Peeta does not actually love Katniss, but instead, he's just using that excuse so she wont kill him.

Making Jokes

This quote is from Lhadze's post about jokes,

The element of a joke is the part where its funny, but when people take it too far, it does not become a joke, it's an insult. Sometimes, when it gets to the point to where it is an insult and can cause a HUGE conflict.  And it can lead people to depression or lack of self confidence because you've entered their bubble and made fun of them. It's an enormous put down to some people because making fun of their race, or a personal issue, can serverly hurt them and leave them alone and in fear of the person. Whereas if you tone down the level of insult in a joke, you'll probably be better off....But always know the diference between a joke and a rude comment.

Lhadze talks about how people can get hurt when there is a joke made about them. I agree that it is wrong to make fun of someone for something that they can't help, but at the same time, we are teenagers and we like to make fun of each other through jokes.

For me, I like to make jokes about people, but only to the ones who know how to laugh along and not get so butt-hurt when I say it. I wouldn't make fun of someone if I knew that they wouldn't know how to take a joke. I know my limits and even if I make jokes, I would not take it too far, only with people who I am closer to. If i don't know someone, then of course it would be wrong to poke fun at them.

When it comes to race, it isn't the subject that people should be making fun of because that's just pure racism.

Rude comments are wrong to say to people, but you have to understand that sometimes, they just blurt out and then when we do say it aloud, it's too late to think about the other persons' feelings.

What people really need to understand is that they shouldn't get mad at every joke that is made about them, especially when it's coming from a person like me who loves to joke around, but not actually cause anyone harm. Kids need to learn how to laugh along.

Another point is that the kids who are being joked on, they should learn how to speak up and just joke back. If someone makes a joke about you, then just do it back to them. It's fun to see people go at it in a funny way with jokes that are not intended to hurt people. If you are one of those people, then just learn to laugh along and don't start crying and getting mad just because someone wants to make jokes. It is a way of life and jokes help get you through the day with laughter.

Garcia Girls Essay

I chose to write about the first question. What was the author's purpose in writing this book, and how can you tell? How well was this purpose achieved?

In the story How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accent, four girls are learning about the way they must live their new lives. The author, Julia Alvarez has many purposes for writing this book, but the overall theme was based around teenage girls and their struggles.

I think that the purpose of the author to write this story was to inform her readers about teenage girls. She wants us to be able to know the problems of typical teenage girls. She tells us of how the Garcia girls struggle within their new society. I can tell that this was the authors purpose because the whole book was based on the problems that the Garcia girls had to come to face with, “They were disclosing her secret shame: her body was changing,” (153). The girls have grown so much from when they came from the Dominican Republic. One of the many changes with the girls was their appearance during puberty. One of the sisters, Carla, tells people to stop mentioning the fact that her body was going through changes. This arises with a new problem for Carla that she has to go through. Carla is left with not being able to do anything since puberty and body changes are just a way of life. She has no control over her body and with the changes that she must go through. The author is trying to get the message across that a typical girl has to face a lot of problems throughout their life and her character, Carla, had to get stuck with one of those many adolescent struggles. Along with that, Carla will not be able to stop many more problems that come in everyone’s’ lives since most, we do not have control over them whatsoever. Throughout the entire story, Alvarez tries to get the point across that when the girls arrive at the United States they must come to face with a lot of problems including those with their body. Not only that, but she also wants to show that every girl has to face problems like this.

As the girls keep growing, the author shows her readers the many problems that these girls have as they are teenagers. One main problem that the girls have is men. Sometimes, a woman’s’ main problem has to be with men. Teenage boys usually become a matter of difficulty during a teenage girl’s life. The girls are either pressured into doing something that they do not want to do, or they let a man take over their lives, “What the hell do you have to make a list of the pros and cons of marrying me for?... Stop violating me I hate it when you do that,” (74). In one scenario, another of the four sisters, Yolanda, is in a relationship with a man named John. Yolanda is not even married with this man yet and she already has to fight with him so he knows that she can not be taken for granted. As stated before, men are a major part of a woman’s life and they play a major role with their interactions. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent is just another example of this because a man in this story is having an affect on one of the sisters. Yolanda is put through a lot because of a man that is a huge part of her life. This brings down confusion on her and she is not so sure whether she wants to marry John anymore or not. Not only that, but John makes it seem as if Yolanda has her times when she is good and when she is not so good. This is shown when Yolanda is talking about her pros and cons. The fact that the authors purpose is to inform about women problems works well with her examples given in the story since they include struggles with either their body image or men.

Another factor of this story is the fact that they show how their lifestyle in their homeland of the Dominican Republic changed so much when they arrived to the United States. Their lifestyle in the Dominican Republic differs from that of the life in America and that is what causes the girls to change in order to fit into their new home in a different place. The girls went through changes since America is culturally different to the Dominican Republic, “The girl she had been back home in Spanish was being shed,” (153). As a result of the move, one of the girls admits to going through a change since arriving at the United States. Everything that the girls have had to go through has changed them to better fit their society. All the problems from men to a changing body image, to their family’s pass caused a difference in the Garcia girls. Another thing that had changed the girls was the fact of not being saints as much as their father thought they were. The sisters had to learn quickly about the lifestyle and how the American girls lived in that country. Thus, the girls started to sneak around and behaving badly behind their father’s back. In the end, the father found out about one of his daughters Sofia, not being a virgin. The truth had finally come out and then she was kicked out of the house by her father.

In this book, the beginning was the end and the end was the beginning. In the end, Yolanda wanted to keep a cat, but a stranger had told her that it could not survive without their mother. I think this is where Yolanda started to think. After she took the cat inside she started banging on the box to hide it from her parents. The cat and that scenario signify the girls and the fact that they tried to hide part of their lives from their parents. It is just a tiny flashback to show how the girls went on to live their live which was somewhat a mystery to their parents, especially their father.

Finally, the author’s purpose to writing this book is to show that moving form one country to another can rally change people. Taking away someone’s culture and removing them from their homeland can have a negative affect on people. The way a person lives is what can be the major change in their lives.

Short Sory Part 3

“Camel you are staying outside the whole period, I’m tired of you coming in late!” Mr. Fargher said.
Camel did not want to stay outside waiting in the rain for the whole period. So he decided to go to Starbuck’s. On the way to Starbuck’s, Camel sees Tramy. Camel started walking with her and asked her if she wanted to go to Starbuck’s with him. Tramy says yes and as soon as they started walking, she says, “Sham!” and trips him. Next thing you know, Camel’s face falls straight into a puddle of water. His whole white ASTI polo gets dirty and wet. Tramy then starts walking back to school laughing. When Camel came back to school, Mr. Fargher makes him come in class and throws the Starbuck’s coffee away. Camel gets mad, but does not say anything.
When we went to Mrs. Corbally’s class, we had a substitute. We all got to sit down where we wanted to. In the back, it was Jair, K.C, Camel, Rubs, Maxito and Tramy. Mario comes to ask Camel for a piece of paper, but as soon as Camel was going to give Mario the paper, he says, “Shhhhhhhham!” we all laughed. Then, Mario says, “Shhhhhhhham this!” and slaps him across the face. He slapped him so hard Camel turned black. We all started laughing again. Then we started to throw papers at Maxito. Camel tells K.C, “Hit him!” and K.C tells him, “Oh look at him!”, but instead of K.C hitting Maxito, K.C hits Camel on the back of the head with the paper. Camel thought he was cool when he really wasn’t. We all started laughing once again.
Suddenly we hear the substitute talking. He kept going on and on and Jair says, “What are you talking about?! No one ever knows what you are talking about! You are like a hungry Chihuahua who never stops barking!”
It was lunch time and we decided to go to the cafeteria again with Bossman and his sidekick. K.C asked him if he could drive his black on black Mercedes. He says, “Sure when you get your license.” We all got the same thing, cheeseburger with fries and a soda. When we get our order, we go and sit with Maxito and Peanut Head. We were all eating and then you see about five fries in the air straight to K.C’s head. They had just done a drive by on K.C. Then you see…
TO BE CONTINUED!

Short Story

Then out of no where, we see Maxito chasing a ball around. K.C says, “Look at my dog chasing the ball!”, “Hahaha!” we all laugh. Then we see a ball going towards K.C’s head. It barely missed. The person who threw the ball was Little Bee. She threw it because she was mad at him because he had stepped on her by accident, since she is only 4 feet tall. Next thing you know, we start to hear a voice. We did not know who it was. Then we, out of no where, we hear someone scream. K.C checks under his shoes and he sees Rubs under it. She is like 3 feet tall, so we didn’t even notice her.
“Give me a lap!” Sousa screams.
“Go home!” Jair says.
We were all running a lap. Because he thought it would be funny, Camel puts his foot out and trips Lion. Next thing you know, Lion’s face is covered with brown and green stuff (the ducks had left Lion a little surprise). Kristine was running so fast, she was running as fast as lightning, but then, K.C. throws the football and there goes Kristine falling down on the ground. Everyone laughed at her!
We were all done running a lap except for Chunky Boy. We all played what we were assigned to play and then after that, we headed for 6th period. In 6th period, everyone was hot and exhausted, so not much was done. We were outside the office where we usually hang out after school and then, we see Chunky Boy. She had barely finished running, I mean jogging the lap. She was sweating bricks and looked like she was going to pass out. Then, we all left her.
When K.C went home, he felt like someone was following him; he was really scared. He did not know who it was, but luckily, he got home safe. The next day K.C and Jair met at the cafeteria with other ASTI peers, but he did not tell them what had happened to him on his way home. K.C thought it was not a big deal and that he was just trippin’. Then 10 minutes before class started, Jair and K.C started walking back to school. Lucky for them, Mr. Fargher was not there yet. So they made it just in time. On the other hand, Camel came late to class and had to stand outside in the rain with thunder outside. And because Camel is not the smartest person, he did not bring a sweater or jacket.
“Camel!”
…TO BE CONTINUED

Garcia Girls

The third and final part to the book, How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents, finally talks about their life back in the Dominican Republic before the family moved.
The first chapter all talks about how the family had to move to the United States. It was not really clear why the Garcia family had to even move, but they do.  While they were still in the Dominican Republic, something was going on with the father of the family. They were looking for him and then a man named Victor was there instead. Whenever a police came, there had to be trouble around, so the family had a code name for that. They had mentioned ‘tennis shoes’ as the code phrase. In the end though, the mother told her daughters that they had to pack up their stuff because they had to leave.
After that, the chapters talk about one part when the girls were even younger. In the Dominican Republic, the sisters had a lot of cousins, and there was one for each of the sisters. The only sister that got stuck with a boy cousin instead of a girl was Yolanda. This talks somewhat about how Yolanda was the one who went through a tomboy phase and how the aunts wanted her to start hanging out with the girls instead for a while. A situation happened in this chapter. The boy cousin that hung out with Yolanda had a toy that Yolanda really wanted to trade with. So she told him that she would give him anything for that toy that was a model of the Human Body. In return for the toy, Yolanda’s cousin, Mundin, wanted her to pull her pants down and to show him what was down there. When Yolanda finished, I think she felt a little ashamed since her cousin had said that she looked just like the dolls.

I think that was really the part in which Yolanda might have changed her image since her family wanted her to be around her girl cousins instead of being a tomboy hanging out around all the boys.
How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accent was a really confusing book, but in the end, everything made better sense to me.

Short Story

Once upon a time in Alaland, there were a group of boys who thought they were funny. They always had a joke to make at every time. One day, for example, Camel told Little Bee a riddle, “There was a monkey and a gorilla going up a coconut tree. Which one got the banana first?” of course knowing Little Bee, she said the gorilla, but since we all know there is no bananas on a coconut tree, she felt really not smart.

Now K.C told Chunky Boy a joke. The joke was like, “You have an ugly nasty bump on top of your neck.” She was trying to figure out what was it so she asked K.C what was it. He said, “It looked like a rotten sandwich and disgusting.” Then Chunky Boy asks, “What is it?” and K.C says, “Your face!” Now that joke was not that as nice, but it was really funny. Chunky Boy got mad and said, “Watch I am going to do something to you!”, but K.C ignored it.
   
Later that day, the whole class was on their way to lunch. It was K.C Camel and Jair. They were going to the caf to order croissants. They all got ham and cheese croissants with fries and Gatorade. Jair thought it was funny to put bacon on Camel’s croissant, since Camel is Arabic and their religion is against eating pork. So Jair gave him the croissant and Camel was about to take a bite out of it, but he stopped him because Jair is not a bad person. (They all laugh).  

They were coming back from lunch to go to P.E. on their way there, the P.E teacher told K.C, “Aren’t you going to change?” and K.C told him, “I am K.C, I do not need to change ok old man,” and the teacher kept on walking.

So later, they seen Chunky Boy and asked it if it wanted a double cheese burger and she said, “Yes!” as soon as it was going to grab it, K.C slapped it and threw it on the floor. Chunky Boy started crying and ran ten steps than got tired. Camel, K.C and Jair started to laugh. Then as soon as they walked, they saw….
TO BE CONTINUED!

The Book We Are Redaing part 2

The second part of How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents starts to get less confusing than the first part of the book. I didn’t really like the book because I didn’t understand what was going on at all, but now, it starts making a little more sense to me.

The second part of this book is all about how the Garcia girls started to grow up in the Unites States and how they are letting go of their life in the Dominican Republic which we don’t know about yet. The girls seem as if they are now teenagers which explain most of the changes that are happening between them. America had an effect on the girls which made them do things like the teenagers of today.

The first chapter talks all about how the sisters were becoming more Americanized. When they go to their hometown again for the summer, their mother comes by for a visit and she is angry with the girls. It just so happens that their mother had found a bag of marijuana in the girls’ room and she wanted to know what was up with that. The youngest daughter Sofia stepped up and said that it was hers’. The mom didn’t want the father to find out about this, so she decided that the three other girls would go back to the United States and Sofia would have the choice of going back and attending a Catholic school or staying in the Dominican Republic. She decided to stay.

By the winter time, the three sisters went back to the place where Sofia was at and they heard that their sister had changed a lot. They found out that Sofia was seeing this boy who was also their cousin named, Manuel Gustavo. After they had met him the girls thought that he was too demanding and that all he wanted was to have sex. In their plan to get rid of him and get Sofia to go back home, the sisters had tricked them because the girls were never to be left unwatched and that is what they did. Sofia was left alone with her boyfriend. She got caught and got in trouble. She was mad at her sisters for doing that to her.

The theme of this part of the book was to show how the girls were already growing up and how America had grown on the Garcia girls.

Respond To The Book We Are Reading

garcia gThe book to me has been really confusing already. I really do not understand what the book is talking about. Usually a book will come with some type of message or an overall theme to it and I have not seen that yet in How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. I think the reason why I am not getting the book so much is because of the way it is organized. I have never read a book where they do backwards chronological order and that’s why the whole book is not making sense to me at the moment. There are four short chapters in the first part of the book and the book is divided into three big parts.
　
I have to admit that I think the book so far is not really that good, but the short stories are kind of interesting. The whole first part of the book talks about the four girls that are the main characters to this story: Yolanda, Sandra, Sofia and Carla. This first part is saying the story in the present tense to where the girls are right now. It is still confusing though because when they talk about the stories as they are being told, they are basically going back to the past.
The first four chapters all have to do with the lives of the four girls and how their relationship is with their parents who brought them to America. The girls are from the Dominican Republic, but they have not talked about when they were there yet. They only talked about that in the first chapter, but that is when Yolanda, one of the four sisters went back there to visit some of the family.
For the next two parts of the book, I do hope that the story will start making more sense and that it will be more interesting to read about because right now, it really isn’t. I predict that the next two section of the book will only talk about how the girls were misbehaving and the story of how the family came to live in America.

Question Respond

My blog post were I express what is going on my mind. Is were I get to free write about what ever I want to. I like the fact that no one tells me what I have to write about, I just let my mind flow free and basically wonder around. When I get my ideas for my blog it is easier to choice what I am going to write about because is not an assignment given to me, is where I just let my mind wonder off.
One of the question is asking me how is writing blog different from regular formal writing. It is different in many ways. One would be what I had said earlier that I feel like I could write about anything I want with out someone telling me no you cannot do that. For example since football season is on I usually watch the games on Sunday and Monday night. It is different from what I would usually be ask to write at school because regular assignments are formal essays. I am giving a specific topic to write about, I feel like I cannot express my self as much. For example in school I am writing an essay about my diet, I am not trying to say that I do not care about my health and my body weight, but it is not going to change the way I eat. I am still going to eat fast food and junk food with out looking at the label on the back of the product. So as you can see at school I am tell to write about a topic that does not catch my mind. While on the other hand in my blog I am able to write about the things I like.
Another way it is different is that it does not have to be so long. What I am trying to say is that if I have something that I want to write about and I really do not have to say a lot about it is ok because the word limit for my blog is 350. Also I do not have to do no research for my blog, I do not have to go and work cite if I do not want to. While in formal writing I have to go research about the topic I am writing about and do work cited. Also I have to write way more than in a regular post. My limit for a regular formal essay is at least more that five pages. So basically I need to keep on writing about the same thing into I reach that goal. In my post I can write about something and once I ran out of saying something I can stop because 350 words is not as much as five pages. Also if I do have a lot to say a lot in one of my blog post I can pass the limit of 350 words to 500 and if I still have more to say I can divide the blog into two or more blogs so they would count for another blog.
Blog is were I feel like a free writer. I have more freedom in my blog than in a formal writing assignment. I do not have to go and do research and do a lot of extra work. Also it is not as much writing, the limit between a blog post and a regular formal writing assignment is a lot. I feel that in my blog post I get lees work, I get to chill back and write about what is in my mind or what I am interested of writing about.
Another question that I am going to write about is where do I get my blog post idea from and what inspires me to write? Well I get my ideas from what happens in the week. So as I had said earlier when I watch football I decide to write about what happened in the game and share how I feel about them. The reason why I choose to write about the football games is to inform people. Inform them about what had happened and share some of the greatest highlights of the week. Also to inform them that Raiders are the best team in the NFL. So basically I decide to write about football to inform. Like to share my opinions and the way I feel about certain teems and plays.
Another way that I decide what to write in my blog is to what I do at school. I like to write about what we read in English class. For example the book night, I thought that this book was a really good book o read so I wanted people to read it, and to do this I inform them about how great this book was. I tell them some events that happens on the book so when they read about it they could see how great of a book Night it is.
Also I choose what to write about from what I like. So what ever is on my mind I just start writing about, I just let my mind wonder. I basically write about what I like at points, but most of the time I write about events that happened in the week my blog post are needed done. I write to inform people about the events that happened in the week, and to all the football fans in A.S.T.I.
One of my goals that I have for this semester that I have is to start writing more formal. I want to still be able to write about what ever u want but I need to spent more time on it. I need to take it more serious, not just do it because it is homework. Another goal is to start writing more, I usually just reach for 350 words since that is what I need to reach. Now I am trying to make my goal 500 words. I need to set my goal higher.

Night Essay

Throughout the book Night, Elie Wiesel struggles against himself in his relationship with his father. Although he sees his father as an obstacle towards getting to his survival, love and care overcomes it.

When Elie is on his way to the concentration camp, he starts to realize how much his father means to him. He does not count on losing him or leaving his side. He started to be as close as he could with his father to make sure he does not leave his side, “My father’s presence was the only thing that stopped me… He was running at my side, out of breath, at the end of his strength, at his wit’s end. I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his only support,” (82). Elie realizes that without him by his side, there would be no one to care for or protect his father. The question he asks himself is “What would he do without me? I was his only support”. Leaving his father without anyone to be there for him will result in no major support for Elie’s father. Elie realizes that there is no possible way that he could leave his father and just go on by himself. He is not that type of person and the immense amount of love that Elie has for his father is what makes him not leave his side for anything.

Towards the end of the book, Elie shows how much he was willing to do for his father. He demonstrates all of the love and respect he has for him. Elie discovers the great relationship he has with his father,

“Here, every man has to fight for he and not think of anyone else… don’t give your ration of bread and soup to your old father. There’s nothing you can do for him. And you’re killing yourself. I listened to him without interruption. He was right, I thought in the most secret region of my heart, but I dared not admit it. It’s too late to save your old father, I said to myself. You ought to behaving two rations of bread, two rations of soup… only a fraction of a second, but I felt guilty. I ran to find a little soup to give my father,” (105).

Here is where Elie truly shows how much he cares about his father. The fact that he does not care that he is killing himself and how he knows he could be having two rations of soup and bread shows that Elie would give up his life for his father. On the inside, Elie knows that in some way, the man is right about his father nearing death, but there was no way that he was going to let that happen on his part. Love for his father is what overcomes the words spoken by this man. Although Elie admits to being wrong by even thinking of doing what the man said, he does not go down that path and he knows that what he did for his father was the right thing to do. Following his heart is the best decision that Elie could have made.

Once they made their way back to the concentration camp, Elie and his father’s relationship starts to grow again. In one occasion, Elie’s father was hit. Due to this, Elie recognizes the love he still has for his father and how he always will have that love for him. He sees this event happen, but he is just stunned to think that someone just did that to his father, “I did not move. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck before my very eyes…I had look and said nothing…Had I changed so much then? So quickly? Now remorse began to gnaw at me. I thought only: I shall never forgive them for that,” (37). Elie starts to wonder how much care he has for his father. Even if he just sees his dad as a normal dad and nothing more, when he is hurt, Elie cares. The feelings that he has of protection for his dad are not so easily hidden. Though Elie thinks that he has changed and grown because of the concentration camp, it does not interfere with those strong feelings he developed for his father. In the end, “I shall never forgive them for that,” (37), a show that whoever does anything bad to his father affects him and for that reason, Elie is not able to forgive that person. Even if the concentration camp has been keeping Elie and his father down, they are still able to continue with the strong relationship they had built.

The concentration camp is what helps strengthen the relationship between Elie and his father. The concentration camp is all about survival and the belief that every man for themselves, but the love and care that Elie feels for his father overcomes those thoughts of abandoning him. In conclusion, the relationship between Elie and his father grows throughout the time they spend together imprisoned in the concentration camp.

Night Reflection

So far, Night has been very deep. The book is very sad and it has moments that I am just shocked of what went down in the Holocaust. In the beginning, the book starts out with not such a sad tone, but then when we started to read the rest of the chapters, they began to start getting sad. At first, the book makes it seem as if nothing bad will happen and that the people only had to move because of the war. After, the book showed how they were actually going to torture or kill the Jews instead. The part that was really sad was when they were burning the babies in the cremator and also just the fact that they were sending the people to the camps.
When it comes to the religion part of Elie, I think he is beginning to forget the reason for why he even believes in God. In the second chapter, they ask Elie what was the reason for why he prays. He did not know how to answer this question so he just told the man, “I don’t know why.” This shows that he prays but he doesn’t even know why he does it. He thought that it was a dumb question to ask and that it was an obvious answer. Even though it was a simple question, Elie still did not know what he was supposed to say. He does not really understand himself when it comes to the fact of his religion and how he is part of that. I predict that Elie will lose all of the faith he had in God.
The people who are in the concentration camp turn to religion, faith and God. They all think they will break out of that place soon if they just believe that God will make it happen. They are kind of just passing by through the day knowing that God will finish it all. It is sad because you can tell that in the end, the ones who thought they were going to survive will eventually die.
My predictions for the rest of the book is that Elie will eventually have to either fight back or break away from the concentration camp that he is stuck in with the rest of the Jews.

respond

vanessaHe kept wondering why would he let all this happened to them. I and is true if they day god is all about protecting a person why would he let such thing happened to someone. He should had prevent this from happening, I believe that no person deserves what is happening to them to happened to them.

I would like to write about this quote because it reminds me of what we were talking about in the class. Our discussion was about how if god is all about bringing the best to people why would he let such thing happened. Why would he aloud people to be treated like this. This questions really made our class think, it made us winder about if there really is a god or not. I think that if we would had gotten more time talk about this subject we would had gone on and on because is a really interesting topic to discuss about. I like how people were not afraid to share out there thoughts about whether god is real or not.

This questions made me wonder if there is really a god. Is not that I have anything about god because I do not want to offend no one with my thoughts. Because it is true why would god let this happened. I understand why some people may say that everything happened for a reason but this. This should never ever be aloud to happened. The fact that people were not just mistreated but burn to death make it really wrong for this to happened.

So as you can see this is why I am questioning about whether god is real or not. Because what the Jews went true was not wrong it was beyond wrong. If I was god I would not let this happened, if I had the power that he had I would had not let the Jews suffer like this.

Also I really like the conversation that we were having in our class because even though some people may believe in god they did not get offended while we were having this conversation.

Respond

Ianna
I got this quote from Ianna
My question to the world is why is kissing such a big deal? I have been wondering this for quite some time. Ever since kissing has been introduced to my generation, people have made a very big deal of it. … I am just wondering why everything is such a big deal.
Well in my opinion people think that kissing in public can cause a bad influence to little kids if they are exposed to that. For example, when a parent is walking their kids to school and they happen to see a couple kissing they will think it is bad because their kids are too young to be seeing that. They don’t want their kids to be seeing that because they feel as if they will start doing the same thing.
Another reason why parents may think kissing is rude is because maybe it might be a teenage couple and they might think they are too young to be doing that. Elders do not like to see the young expressing their feelings in that type of way with each other. So that is why elders think that kissing is too wrong.
 For some reason, parents think that there must be a certain age to be kissing because it shows a good example of how teens are starting to develop wrong habits. When they see all of this happening around the, they assume that it will eventually lead to sex before marriage. And as we all know, parents do not want their kids to be having sex or making out with their couple/ they believe it is rude and disrespectful to the people around them. They expect them to know better than to do all of that with other watching.     
Back in the day, people were used to seeing kids respect each other and be more secretive about what they are supposed to do in their own time.
Now I have a question for all of the viewers. Do you think that it is right for kids to be kissing in public? What will your parents think?

Q the story

I really like the stories that we read in writing class. The story The Dinosaur was really good, I like how Q is always changing into a new living being. Also I think that at the end of that story he changes into a human. It is cool how he transforms from a dinosaur to a human, he gets to experience a new body and a new life.

I think he changes in to a human because he says I talked in to a train station and was lost, and the only living beings who travel in trains are humans. Also I liked this short story because they are interesting, I really hate reading and I would admit that this was a good story. I liked the part when Q snatch from that one character and had sex with her, and not just that but got her pregnant.

I also like the them. By theme I mean how he was confuse of who he was and really did not now weather being the only one of his kind a dinosaur was a good thing or bad. I had wrote that through out the story he realizes how being a dinosaur is an advantage since he is stronger and bigger than others. He was able to do things that others cannot. Also because he could do things that others cannot he was asked to help out and many of the new ones did not want to mess with him because he was bigger and stronger. He could had clearly beat them up.

I also liked how the story was short and that long. Because it was short I was able to read it with out getting bored. Like I said earlier I hate reading and since books are really big they get me boring and I do not want to keep on reading them. Since this was a short story I was able to read it all with out getting bored or wanting to put it down. Also it did not have many things going on it was really just one conflict and did not have a lot going on.

Q Essay

Q a character from the short stories The Dinosaur by Italo Calvino has trouble figuring out if being different from others is a advantage or just make him a threat.

At the beginning of the stories Q starts of by explaining he is the only living dinosaur, and how it is dangerous. So Q is the only one of his kind and everywhere he encounters a living being he is frightened. He will always run of and be chase by the living beings, “For millennia I had been used to striking terror all around me, and to feeling terror of others reaction to the terror I aroused,”(98)This shows how Q views himself as a target because he is now different. In addition, this has not only happened a couple time because as he said for millennia he feels terror of others. Back to were he views himself as a target, it is true because he is big and the only one of his type everyone around him may see him as a threat. If he is seen as a threat to others, than the living beings would want to do is eliminate him. They are scared of him so they will gang up on hi,, and since he is the only one of his kind he is basically all alone. So the fact that he is the only one of his kind a dinosaur Q feels like he is a target everywhere he goes.

Through out the middle of the story Q now starts to realize how being a dinosaur may actually be a benefit. Since he is big and stronger than others he could do things that others cannot. Now others living beings start asking him for help since he is stronger and capable of doing things they cannot, “This is it,’ I thought, all I can do is sell myself dearly,’ And I prepare to leap into my defense. Luckily, I stopped myself in time. Those fisherman had nothing against me; seeing how strong was, they asked me if I could stay with them and work transporting wood,”(99). So as you can see Q is now realizing that being a dinosaur would be an advantage. They are asking him for help since he is clearly bigger and stronger then them, now he is seeing the good in being a dinosaur. For example at the beginning of the quote he said all he can do is sell himself and leapt to his defense. He still thought that he was a target, but then later in the quote he learns how they just wanted his help because he was capable of doing the job they needed helped on. Later on the story Q is starting to be known as the ugly one. That’s how they refer to him, and some are even starting to notice how strong and big he is, “Zahn, we told you! The ugly one ha muscles. You don’t try tricks with him, not with old ugly one…Go on, you’re the stronger one!,”(1023). Now people are realizing how he the strongest and that he can be helpful to them. Now living beings are not messing with Q or chasing him, now they are not scared of him but are asking him for help. So as you can see now Q is realizing how being a dinosaur could be an advantage and be helpful not make him a target.

Now at the end of the story Q sees how being a dinosaur is a good thing. He finally sees how is an advantage, he now is basically proud of being the only one of his kind, “Our extinction had been a grandiose epilogue worthy of our pass,”(109). What this quote means is that dinosaurs died it was a big deal. That the fact that they died is big, they died with leaving a mark of them in this world. Also that dinosaurs were not the weakest animals but one of the strongest and that the fact that they died makes them even more important. So finally Q realizes how he is proud of who he is, that he might be different but that does not mean he is weaker or a target to everyone else.

NFL

I would like to talk about the NFL but more specially about the teams I like. The Raiders and the Minnesota Vikings. I know that the Raiders would not make it to the Superbowl but I still have faith in them, while the Minnesota Vikings do have a change to go to the Superbowl and even win it.

The Minnesota Vikings have a change because of a player name Adrian Peterson. He is one of the best NFL players there is today. A player that I like from the Raiders is Asomugha, he is really good at defence.

Teams that I really do not like are teams like the Chargers. One player that use to be in the Chargers that is now in the Jets is L.T. I dislike him because he use to be the best in 2006 and 2007 but now he cannot even last a full football season with out getting injure. He is just to old now, he must still be good but not as he use to be.Another team that I really dislike is San Francisco. The reason i hate them is because I like the raiders and the Raiders are rivals against them so that makes me hate them. When ever the San Francisco plays against the Raiders and they win I get mad because I believe that in this battle of the bay the superior team is always the best. In this case it would be the Raiders.

So as you can see I do not have a lot to say about NFL but this is what i do have to say about it. I have teams that I dislike and teams that I really like, and once again I would like to say that the Minnesota Vikings are going to the Superbowl and winning it, but I still have a lot of faith that the Raiders would also go to the Superbowl and winning it. So as you can see I cannot decide of witch team I like more but I think it is probally Raiders because they are the best.

Respond To Keiland

Keiland:Swag is something that many people are not born with. You have to (as the defintion sais) "Swag up" . By doing this you are having your own unique style , or you are confident in the style you already have. Confindence is a HUGE piece of having swag. If you are questioning or not if you have swag, then you most defintly dont have it.

I would like to Respond to the quote that Keiland wrote. I agree with what he is saying, but I think that by saying this he is puting others down. Some people may take this to personal. But to get out that topic for now, I have a question  for Keiland, Do you think you have swag?

I do believe that if you have confident than you have swag because a person who may even think about them having then they do not have it. So I guess that this part of this qoute is true. I was also wondering if there could be different types of swag since you said that you could have a unique style. Unique could mean something different to other people, it all depends on ur view of style. So what I am trying to say is that keiland a person that you think may have negetive swag another person may think that he has alot of swag. So I thimk that swag is view in different ways depending the type of person that you are.

Now to talk aboout the first line about how a person is born with swag or not. How can a person be born with swag, I believe that is up to people to tell a person that has swag or not. swag is basiclly waht people think of you. If people like how you dress and look then you have swag and if people do not then you do not. So I believe that everyone has swag, that there is allways someone in the world that would tell you that you have swag. So once again I would like to ask Keiland if he has swag?

Respond to Francis Opening Statement

Francis.The “Gay Gene”: There is no gene that calls for a person to be heterosexual, homosexual, or any other types of sexuality. Many types of research has been done, including the “X-linked Gay Gene” (which has been proven false) and not one can provide solid evidence that any sexuality, including homosexuality) is genetically inherited. This provides more information that solidifies that sexuality is learmed.

I would like to say that I really agree with with this. The reason why I would like to agree with this is because I was also going against the topic about are people sexual oriantation determind at birth. Also the group that I was going against had brought up the "gay gene," and I know that ther is no gay gene so it was wrong for them to say that.Also my group had said that the mom would had passed the X gene, that maybe a hormo was passed down, but what I had said about that is that how about if there is no gay path in the mom's famaly.were would they had goten it from.

Also I would like to say that the gay gene was a good counter argument against tthe opposite group because although some people may think there is a gay gene the is clearly no gay gene. no scientist has found a gay gene, so waht that means is that ther is no gay gene. So because there is no gay gene that would mean that there is no way that someones sexual oriantation cannot be determind at birth. So as you can see me and Francis were both right.

To conclude I believe that a person sexual oriantation is not the demind at birth. Thanks to the the fact that there is no gay gene oit can be prooven that there is really no way that a persons sexual oriantation can be determind at birth.

Vocab Words

framework
acquisition
emphasis
discretion
sex
investmenr
hence
prior
notion
percent

Speech

Hello my name is Pedro Vargas and I attend to the school Alameda Science Technology of Institute. I am here to talk about the ways that the youth could ,make there communities better. By better I mean more safer, cleaner, and healthier. We all know that they are many great heroes that helped the world become a better place, but now is the chance of a kid to make a change in their community. For example Alameda, Alameda could be improve by many things that kids could help fix.
We all know that there are very great heroes that really helped the world. For example Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and Cesar Chaves. This three heroes fought for what was right. They all fought for peace in their own way, but they all are still remember till this day. If you help your community you may not be remember as much as this three heroes, but you will feel great and show how much you care about your communities.
Alameda is a great place. Is one of the safest place in the bay area, but it could be safer. It cannot just be safer but it can also be cleaner. I think that not just grown ups can make a change in Alameda, kids could to. It may sound possible for one person to make a big different but just take a look at the three heroes I mansion before like M.L.K and Cesar Chaves. They made a really huge different in the world. So as you can see you can make a change on Alameda, because Alameda may be already really safe and clean but it can be cleaner and safer.

Rebuttal Con; born gay? Ruby and Pedro

Me and my partner Ruby are Con. against the question, is a person sexual orientation determind at birth? The reason why we believe that this is false is because a person could change their feelings as they grow up. They may start building up new feelings because of the person they hang out with or interact with. So as you can see a person could change their feelings as they grow up wich means that a person's sexual orientation is no determined at birth.

The Pro. side of the question is a person's sexual orientation determined at birth  are Vy and her partner Jackson. they disagree with ous, and I would like to point out a quote that they had said in their opening statement, "

"Before birth in embryonic state, people are bisexual, but in the coarse of their natural desire, most loose their desire for members of the same sex.

I wanted to point this quote out because it sounds that a person may loose their desire of their members of the sex, so basiclly they are saying that a person could change their desire for members of their same sex. This sbrings me back to what I had said earlyer about how a person has a choice of choosing their sexual orientataion, so as time passes by they have the right to change their desire of  the gender they like.

"