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Friday, May 16, 2008

The loneliness and companionships in the book Of Mice and Men

After reading the book Of Mice and Men, I really noticed all the loneliness and companionships there are in the book. Most noticeably were the characters like Curley’s wife, who was looking for love and affection, George and Lennie, who only had each other, and Candy, who only had the love of his dog.

Curley’s wife suffers from complete alienation and loneliness. Her husband makes her feel isolated, verbally abuses her, keeps her away from the other men, and keeps her somewhat incarcerated inside her own home. Throughout the book I see her in constant search for love and affection. She tries to start various conversations with George, but George assumes that she is might be trouble. He tells himself not to give in to self-indulgence when it comes to Curley’s wife and her scandalous motives. Even the men on the farm misjudge her. They refer to her as a no good dirty tramp who is trying to sleep with everyone. The understatements that have been made about her might be the main cause of her loneliness and depression.

When it comes to George and Lennie, their relationship is a little different. Ever since Lennie’s Aunt died he has been traveling with George. George, on the other hand, only took him in because he knew that Lennie could not survive without the support of a sane human being. At times, George wished that he had never let a mentally challenged Man tag along with him because of the trouble that Lennie caused. Lennie doesn’t understand the effect of his actions like when he felt on the girl’s dress in Weed or when he felt on Curley’s wife’s hair and accidentally killed her. However, they stay together because of the mutual companionship they provide each other regardless of Lennie’s handicap. “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you…” Quote from chapter 1 of Of Mice and Men

Candy has to be one of the saddest characters in the book. He didn’t have a family to comfort him and he had been working on the farm for god knows how long. Candy lost his hand in an accident and worries about his future on the ranch. He feels that his age makes him useless to the other workers. The only thing that ever mattered to him was his dog but it was brutally killed by Carlson because it was very old. The only thing he lived for was unceremoniously torn away from him with a bullet to the head.

Candy, Curley’s wife, Lennie and George all search for affection and companionship. Some are able to encounter it if only for a brief moment while for others, companionship eludes them forever.

Reflection #6 on Service Learning

On the sixth meeting Mr. Ackerman Planned a food drive for the homeless people. He wants to take the group to University City High School next Saturday In the Afternoon. He also wants to ask the school for transportation just in case our trans passes stop working. The behavior in the class was better than last week and most of my colleagues participated.

Reflection #5 on Service Learning

For our fifth meeting we had a substitute teacher because Mr. Ackerman was absent. We did not work on anything and the student were all over the place. No accomplishments were made so it was waste of service learning time.

Friday, May 2, 2008

Reflection #4 On Service Learning

For our forth meeting we went on another walking trip around the block. The purpose for this was to found out how many homeless people we would see if we were to walk around the block one time. At the end of this trip we saw three homeless people. Afterwards we came back to school and talked about what we saw and how did we feel about the things we had seen. In conclusion our meeting was once again a success and this was another fun experience for our group.

Reflection #3 On Service Learning

For our third meeting, we decided to take a walking trip to visit the U.S mint instead of talking about homelessness. When we got to the U.S mint, we had to put our electronic devices as well as our bags in a container and let it go through an X ray scanner. Once we were in we looked around at all the different exhibits and when it was time to go we had to answer a question in order to obtain a shredded $100 bill.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Reflection #2 on Service Learning

On our second meeting, my group and I had a discussion on what shelter we should volunteer at. Mr. Ackerman used Google to search for shelters that are close to our school. When he found the shelter that was closest to our school, he showed it to us by using his smart board. Then we watched a video on homelessness. The video featured homeless people who talked about how they got to where they are. A lot of them were laid off from their jobs and couldn't pay their bills so they were kicked out of their homes.

My Personal Statement (Summer Mentorship Program)

Thursday, April 17, 2008

reflection on last week's service learning

Last week for service learning, my group and I discussed what we need to do so that we can help homeless people. my teammates had a lot of bright ideas. Such ideas included creating hygiene packs that provide soap, water, clothing, a tooth brush, and many other things. Mr. Ackerman enlightened us with information about how giving homeless people money is a bad idea. The reason that it is a bad idea is because they can use the money for drugs instead of trying to get back on their feet. I enjoyed the discussion on how we can help homeless people and I look forward to the next meeting regarding homelessness.

Monday, April 7, 2008

homeless shelters we should visit in Center City

The topic I chose is homelessness and where I should contribute my time to is homeless shelters around center city. There are a lot of people that are living on the streets in center city that need help with getting back on their feet. What we should do is try and see if we could contact as many shelters so that we can get those homeless people that I see every time I walk by them on my way to school. We should also volunteer at shelters and help them manage the homeless people.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

cerebral palsy (genetic mutation)

cerebral palsy is one of a number of genetic neurological disorders. It can appear in early infancy or early childhood.It is caused by abnormalities in parts of the brain that control muscle movements. It affects the body movement and muscle coordination permanently. This means that there isn't a cure for cerebral palsy, but children can get treatment to improve a child's capabilities. Many children go on to enjoy near-normal adult lives if their disabilities are properly managed. Treatment may include physical and occupational therapy, speech therapy, drugs to control seizures, relax muscle spasms, and alleviate pain. The early signs of cerebral palsy usually appear before a child reaches 3 years of age. A small number of children have cerebral palsy as the result of brain damage in the first few months or years of life, brain infections such as bacterial meningitis or viral encephalitis, or head injury from a motor vehicle accident, a fall, or child abuse. Researchers are investigating the roles of mishaps early in brain development, including genetic defects, which are sometimes responsible for the brain malformations and abnormalities that result in cerebral palsy. To make sure children are getting the right kinds of therapies, studies are also being done that evaluate both experimental treatments and treatments already in use so that physicians and parents have valid information to help them choose the best therapy.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Service learning

Last school year for my independent service learning project I volunteered to work with the committee of 70. I had to sit down and wait for the phones to ring so that I could answer it and take the complaint that the voter at the polls would give me. I did that with other people our school for 10 hrs. Then for our group service learning project my peers and I worked on murals. Our goal was to paint a mural in front of the school but as you can see it didn't happen because we procrastinated to much. This year for my independent service learning project I wanna volunteer to work in an animal shelter. It is undecided what I will do for my group service learning project beecause I don't know what the choices are but most likely I want to help and provide care for the homeless.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Chapter 6: The big wack off pgs. 28-30

Description:
Bigger and his friends brought a ticket to a movie. When they got there the movie didn’t start yet, so they were listening to a soft and low pipe organ playing. While setting in the seat Bigger’s breathing started to change and he looked around to see if anyone was looking or near him. Next Bigger slouched down in the seat and be gains to masturbate while Jack is next to him doing the same. In the process Jack gets hard as a rod and bigger isn’t quite there yet. As they are masturbating, Jack says that “He thinks some ladies saw them” and Bigger says,” If they walk back I’ll put it in her.” Jack says that, “If they see it then they will faint or want to grab it. Then they both have an orgasms and move to different seats.

Analysis:
Richard Wright wrote this chapter to show that African American Kids in the 1930’s really had nothing better to do with their lives. He shows that the kids had to be in dark places in order to express themselves r to relax and have fun. He has shown that what kids do in the dark you really can’t do in the light because it’s really frowned upon or it’s not respected. He also wrote this chapter to show the beginning of his man hood. It gives you the start of where Bigger feels like he has become a man.

From Fear to Strength pgs. 83-87

Bigger dropped Jan off at the train station and takes Mary home by then she s already drunk. He carries her up the back stairs so she wouldn't make any noise. He finds her room and starts touching on her as he puts her on the bed. In walks Mary's mother. Bigger in shock could only think about not getting caught in the room. He holds his hand over her face so she could make no sound or respond to her mother calling her name. Meanwhile Mary is suffocating under Bigger's tight grip. She gasps and motions for air and Bigger place a pillow over her face, as he mother gets closer. Mary claws at at Bigger's hand wanting release. A few seconds later she finally loosens her hands "dead". Bigger tip toes around her mother and out of the dark room escaping and leaving the scene only to return later for a horrible cover up. The mother smells a whiff of rum on her dead daughter and begins to pray next to her bed.


ANALYSIS...
Richard Wright wrote this section in book one to show the dangers and fears of racial empowerment. Also to show how a man gains strength from committing a crime. He thinks of himself as inferior to his equals because they rob only people of their own kind and he killed a woman of another race.

I Wanna Fly pgs. 14-17

Reak down of Chapter:
Bigger walked towards the poolroom when he saw Gus and asked, “If he saw Jack?” Gus said, “ no” and then the two of them enjoyed a nice cigarette break while looking into the sky and dreaming of the various things they could do if they weren’t black. Things like flying high in the sky or having a high paying job to support his family.

Analysis...
Richard Wright wrote this piece to interpret society's views on black men. Society believes that black men are the "Inferiors” as well as the scapegoats for the violence that is caused.

Bloom's taxonomy

1.Knowledge - What happened when Jack and Bigger left the pool room?
-When they left the pool room they went to the movie theatre.

2.Comprehension - Who was the key character in the plan Bigger made after killing Mary?
-The key character in Bigger's plan was Jan. Bigger was planning to frame Jan for Mary's murder.

3. application-What question would you ask bigger if you had the chance to meet her?
-Was the North what you expected to be when you moved from down south?

4. analysis-what were some of the motives behind killing Mary?
-His motives behind killing Mary was that he was scared, confused, he felt hate, and his mind was out of place. In other words he killed her without the intentions of killing her.

5. synthesis-what would have happened if Mary's dad walked in instead of Mary's mom?

-if Mary's dad would of walked in the room and saw bigger on Mary's bed a series of thing might have happened. first of all, Mary's dad would of interrogated bigger about what he was doing in his house. The second thing that could of happened is that Mary's dad could of mistaken Bigger for another African American and attacked him. Finally, Bigger would have gotten so scared that he would of shot Mary's dad.

Mary's dad wouldn't of wanted to call the cops on Bigger because he wouldn't want that to be in the newspaper so instead he would of just interrogated him. such questions would include: "why are you here?, were you planning to kill Mary?, should I fire you before you start working?"

What if he mistaken bigger for another African American and attacked him not knowing that it was bigger.Then In this situation bigger would of tried to talk some sense into Mr. Dalton but, on the other hand he might of retaliated.

with the last scenario bigger would of pulled out his gun and shot Mr. Dalton because of the trembling fear that would of ran down his body. At this point he would lost his mind and killed Mary just because she was a witness to her father's murder.

In conclusion, the series of events that could of took place if her father had walked in on him could of reshaped the rest of the story line and who knows what the rest of the book would of sounded like.

6.Evaluation-How would you have dealt with getting drunken Mary in the house?

-Bigger did not have an easy task, getting drunken Mary into her house. Not only was it his first day on the job, but she was counting on him to cover the fact that she had not been at a school lecture, as she had said to her father, but instead had gone out drinking with communists instead. Although he ended up killing her by accident, the situation didn’t look good from the start. If I had been in his position I would have done it
in the quickest way possible

I would have just brought her into the house, and laid her down on the first piece of furniture I found, and then left. This way, I wouldn’t have to walk up any stairs, which would make noise and possibly wake someone up. If the family questioned me, which they might not, for the sake of not being awkward, or for fear of offending me, I would just tell them I dropped her off where she wanted and then picked her up and she was drunk so I took her home.

This seems like it would be the least risky way to have dealt with Mary. Bigger’s biggest mistake was trying to seduce her.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

NHD reflection

For NHD I decided to write a paper on the Boston Massacre. I researched this topic for about a month and found interesting
Information on it, like how the colonists rebelled against British parliament as well as King George the Third because of the massive taxation being imposed on the colonies. Most people liked my paper and they even gave me positive feedback but,
Sadly, I didn't win. It kind of felt like I did NHD for nothing and I bet many other people feels the same about it. Also, NHD put a lot of stress on many people. Ian Mcshay, ninth grader at Constitution High said, "There is so much stress that you can actually feel it." He also came up with a term "NHDing" meaning that the teachers are putting such a tremendous amount of pressure on the students to finish their projects that they are starting to breakdown and become very irritable to one another as well as teachers. Overall NHD was time consuming and if it were never for a grade then I would have never done it.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Teenage Fears

teenage fears
Not getting enough credits in school
repeating the course
Not graduating and possibly droping out
becoming a father
Getting put on Child support
Taking a DNA test and fing out it isnt yours
Worrying about if other people like you
Creating a reputation that isnt you
Trading popularity for education
violence
Feeding into the he say she say
Thinking you have something to prove to everyone.
your pride is your own worst enemy

Teenage Fears

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Reflection On My Geometry Project (Hypatia)

The geometry project that was assigned to me by Mr. Carpenter was to research a famous Mathematician that contributed to the study of mathematics and how it impacts today's society. I chose Hypatia of Alexandra, Egypt. She was born 370 AD and Died 415 AD. Hypatia was the first woman to make a substantial contribution to the development of mathematics.In that Era Women knew that their duties were in the house but she dared to be different.She was so smart the Christian males that were in charge of the country were intimidated by her intellect. She was killed by a fanatical Christian mob who felt that their authority was being challenged by her.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Links for Boston Massacre

The Famous Trial

Boston Historical Society's Description

1700s Timeline

Boston Massacre quiz

Bibliography On the Boston Massacre

Bibliography:

"BOSTON Massacre." Early America Review. Archiving
Early
America. 21 Dec 2007
http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/winter96/massacre.html

Kennedy, David, Cohen Lisabeth, and Bailey, Thomas.
American Pageant.
AP. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006.

Hart, Diane. Pursuing American Ideals. Palo, Alto, CA:
Teachers’ Curriculum Institute 2, Inc., 2008.

Kelly, Martin. "Boston Massacre." American History.
About.com
21 Dec 2007
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/revolutionarywar/a/boston_massacre.htm

The Fifth of March: A Story of the Boston Massacre (Great Episodes) -- by Ann Rinaldi;
The Boston Massacre by Hiller B. Zobel. Reissue edition (April 1996) W.W. Norton & Company; ISBN: 0393314839
The Boston Massacre (The American Adventure #10) by Susan Martins Miller (December 1998) Barbour & Co; ISBN: 1577481577

The Infamous Boston Massacre. By Robert, Smith
Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston (Selected Bibliographies Reprint) by Boston Staff. Facsimile edition (June 1949)
Ayer Co Pub; ISBN: 0836956834
Bliven Jr.Bruce, The American Revolution NY: Random House, 1986.

• Carpenter, Allan, The New Enchantment of America Massachusetts, Chicago: Children’s Press, 1959.

• Cook, Fred, The American Revolution NY: Golden Press, 1959.

• Kent, Deborah, America the Beautiful Massachusetts, Chicago: Children’s Press, 1987.

• Marrin, Albert, and The War for Independence NY: Athenaeum, 1988.

• Taylor, Theodore, Rebellion Town Williamsburg, and 1776 NY: Thomas Y., Crowell Company, 1973.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Questions For NHD


1.Who is to blame for the Boston massacre?

2.How did you develop your expertise on this subject?

3.Did the protesters provoke the soldiers?

4.Why do eyewitness accounts of the event differ?

5.what effect did the Boston massacre on the revolution?

6.how did Paul Revere’s engraving help or hurt the cause and effect perception of the event?

7.Why were the revolutionaries protesting before the start of the Boston massacre?

8.What was most important about the Boston?

9.How could a weak Declaration of Independence have affected the outcome of the Boston Massacre?

10.What was the French outlook on The Boston Massacre? What did they think of it? Were they for it or against it?

School Religion

Should student be allowed to practice religion in school?
I do not think that religion should be practiced in pubic schools because most students have different views on how they define god, and not every student worships the same god. It is a controversial issue that has been talked about for decades but cannot be taught in public schools because of the fact that there is also another theory that explains the creation of humans, which is the theory of evolution we evolved from Neanderthals