Cats

Ugh another day of having random peoples hands touch me, if you ask me, its just gross. What I would do to just have a family, this humane society place is disgusting. Why wont anyone pick me? Is it because I'm fat? I don't try to be, I just like food. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever leave this place. Even if having some little kid screw around with me is better then sitting in this rotting cage. The cats around me are so annoying I mean really, I don’t know why they cant shut up. Ugh, please get me out of this camber of torch er.

Lottery of Death

Authors Note: This story is going to be about the main theme of, The Lottery, which I think is power.

This whole story is about Power. The people who have the power in the this story
is the government. Why power is the theme of this story is because they hold a "lottery," every year to show their power. Unlike the lottery we know and love where we get money, this lottery you win death.

In addition to the statement before the story, "The lottery," is very similar to the huger games. I The reason I think that is in both novels the governments holds a event that is a tradition year by year to show there power. In the hunger games they hold what is called the hunger games showing there power against the city.

Overall in both stories power played a big roll. Power was the theme in both stories because both capitols or towns square like to hold these," traditions," having to do with death every year.In conclusion both of the themes of these stories display death.

Hunger Games Summary.

The Hunger Games is a great Story full with suspense and action. This story is about a girl named katniss forces to go fight with other kids around her age to the deah for the entertainment of the capitol.

Hunger Games Retelling Piece

Do you like romance? How about romance with a side of adventure and

Action too? Then the Hunger Games is book for you!

A Vacation to Remember

Authors Note: This story will be about my spring break adventure, and the bump in the road that took place.

Waking up to bright lights shining in my eyes and screaming lets go, let’s go at 3 o’clock in the morning, is always the way I want to start my day. I was leaving for Punta Cana with the Fountaine family own for the first time, to say the least I was a little scared. My friend Kayla invited me along on her family vacation for a week. I had only met her family a few times before, and I would be with them for a whole week. On this trip I didn’t know what to expect, but I sure didn’t expect to end up in a Punta Cana hospital.

Getting 6 people up and in a car is not an easy task. There’s always the person that has to go to the bathroom, or remembers something right when you are ready to leave. This was defiantly the Fountaine’s situation. When we get to the airport we go through customs, which is pretty much saying, “We allow you to leave the United States.” After waiting in long lines and security, we are finally at our gate. I txt my parents my last goodbyes before I get on the plane, and wish they were with me. I struggle to walk up the ramp to my plane. When I take my seat I take a deep breath, and told myself, “It’s just a plane; you’re not going to die.”

Longest 4 and 30 minutes of my life! I was in such a rush to get off that death machine. When I stepped off of the plane I felt so relieved to see that we were on land. It was so warm and humid I could feel myself getting light headed. My friend Kayla and I went on the tram that was going to take us to our baggage and the rest of the family followed. We wait in endless lines to get out of the airport and to our hotel. Finally we are put on a bus and I get a sense of relief.

Wow, you never know how good you have it until you look at people that live with close to anything. I see stray skinny dogs everywhere, and people that are: under age driving, no stop signs, no speed limits, you can sit on top of cars, in Punta Cana its every man for themselves.

After roughly 45 minutes of feeling like I'm going to die on this bus, I reached the destination my resort! Oh my goodness, it was breathtaking! Just absolutely stunning it looked just like it did on the hotel website. It was so huge and extravagant, it was very wild life, like nothing id seen before.

While Kayla’s mom was checking in to see if our rooms were ready, I was on my phone trying to call my parents, I should have suspected no service. After I finished having my little spasm, Kayla told me the hotel had wifi and I was relieved.

Later we got on a golf cart with our luggage and they drove us to our room. Our room was literally like a condo including: mini living room, a huge bathroom with a stand up shower, a king size bed, and a view of palm trees out the window, this is paradise.
First thing me and Kayla do is take out or swimsuits grab some sun screen and head to the beach. We go swimming in the pool for what seems like hours doing handstands and getting disturbed by foreign men in Speedos, disgusting. We laugh about dumb things until it gets too cold to be in the water. It was a long night and it as time to tuck into bed.
Waking up too sunshine and palm trees is a great way to start off my day. We leave to go Dun Buggying at 10 and it is 8 now. Kayla and I walk up to the breakfast buffet and immediately my eyes are set on the churros. We both scarf down like we were wild apes.

When we get back into our room we have to change into the worst clothes we got brought on vacation and head out to the lobby, to wait for the bus. It doesn’t take long for a prison looking bus to appear, I thought I'm dead for sure. We get on the bus were it smells like sewage and its extremely humid.

This place was disgusting, the place was filthy. Fabulous it started raining, this will get messy. They explain to use the rules and how the dune buggies work and give us a helmet, and then we all got buckled in. We start of on the tour and rain is pelting in my face, and everybody is driving so fast and I get scared. There is huge pot holes everywhere filled with dirty water. We go through every pot hole and I’m so scared, we finally approached this turn about which I had troubles with, and boom! I hit the tour guide ahead of me. My face gets redder than an apple and I apologize and keep going. Finally we reach a spot where we take a break, and can switch riders. The photographer takes a picture of all of us, and we continue on our tour. Kayla is driving and I could not be more scared, we fall behind so she catches up going over many potholes in the process. WE are finally going at a steady paste when suddenly something gets caught up in our steering wheel and puts us straight into a palm tree! I was so shocked and so happy I was ok, and then I look over at Kayla and she has a huge gash under her knee, I almost puked. She didn’t see it right away but the tour guide right away took her out of the dune buggy and put him on his 4 wheeler, she saw the gash and started crying and screaming. The tour guide got Kaylas parents right away and started curing for the deep cut right away they put alcohol on it right away and started bandaging it, she was losing so much blood. I had a tiny scrape on my knee, and the didn’t want it to get infected so they put some rubbing alcohol on it. I held her hand and refused to let go until her parents got here. They were speeding around like crazy getting to her and when they finally got here they almost got a heart attack. I was in shock but Kayla needed stitches, she needed to get to a hospital.

I went in a dune buggy with Kayla’s dad and Kayla’s mom drove back by herself. One of the men took Kayla back on a 4 wheeler going extremely slow, so the cut doesn’t get bigger. We get into a taxi right away and get her to a hospital. The icing on the cake is that we were soaked in mud and I had to go to the bathroom. I try to keep Kayla calm by telling her about funny things and keeping her happy. The taxi man takes us to the hotel hospital.

We get there and it is a single room with two doctors. They see Kayla’s cut right away and say it is too big to treat. They put some disinfecting liquid in her knee and she screams so loud. They do the same to me and it didn’t feel too good. They get as golf cart for Kayla and we wait for a new taxi to take us to a private hospital. We get to the hospital and they put her in a wheelchair and in a private room. A Doctor saw Kaylas leg and said she ruptured a tendon, which is the muscle that moves your leg back and forth and that they needed to operate right away. Kayla’s mom signed some papers and they got her into surgery right away. I was so scared for her I refused to fall asleep even though it was 1 o’clock in the morning; I wanted to see that she was ok. My Spanish came in handy while I was in the hospital; there were very few people that speak English. I had to use the hospitals phone to call Kayla’s dad and brother to inform them about the news.

After 2 hours of sitting on wooden chairs, Kayla came out of surgery, they told us she had many stitches inside and outside of her leg, and they repaired her tendon. They put us in a room with 1 other bed other than the one Kayla is in and a chair. I said, “How are you doing buddy,” she replies with, “Really good, I had a dream about cows jumping on tractors.” I laughed because she was all drugged up and didn’t know what she was saying. Then we both were so tired we fell asleep.

The next day Kayla’s mother talked to the travel agent who paid for the whole hospital bill. Kayla’s mom had to sign more papers and Kayla got some crutches and they rolled her out to a taxi to take us back to our hotel. I felt relief go through my body, than we got to the hotel.

After the drive from the hospital Kayla had to sit in the lobby because she was not allowed to swim, go to the beach, or be out in the sun too long. Kayla made that lobby her new home day after day she sat on her phone and occasionally sat far from the pool were she could get some sun. I brought her breakfast lunch and dinner, everyday and sat with her in the lobby, I never left her side. I always say, “She would’ve done the same for me,” although I didn’t exactly get the vacation I thought I would I gained an amazing friendship and an adventure of a life time.

Viruses are a Force to be Reckoned With

Authors Note: This essay will be about viruses and the negative effects they have on the body.

A virus is an infective agent that typically consists of a nucleic acid molecule in a protein coat, and is too small for the human eye to see. These viruses are practically in every human being at one time. Viruses do not like to leave and are hard to find, which is why they enter our bodies so easily. Viruses don’t go down without a fight.

For instance viruses enter our bodies from things from the outside world. Such as: coughs, sneezing, vomiting, bites from animals, or things like going to the bathroom and not washing your hands. When viruses enter your body, some of them make you get sick due to the fact that they use your body's resources to live and reproduce, and also because their waste products are toxic. Viruses tend to want to take over, so they break into the cell, and they multiply in size and take over the cell. In order to get the viruses out of the cell you have to kill the whole cell, and the viruses still do not die.

You may ask, where do the viruses go? Due to viruses being the size they are which is extremely small, it is hard to find them. Also viruses hide within a cell, which makes it hard to locate them. When a virus is created it breaks into a cell and begins to multiply. Overall viruses cannot be cured by medicine. The only thing that can get rid of them is time.

Pursuing this further is the explanation of how viruses affect our bodies. When a virus attacks it takes control of that first cell, it starts to move to other cells in big numbers, until it takes control of the whole organ. At that moment the DNA of the body stops working, because the DNA in of the virus took control. When the virus takes control it can be like a dictator and own the whole body (Victoria). Viruses have different mechanisms by which they produce disease in an organism, which largely depends on the viral species. Mechanisms at the cellular level basically include cell lyses, the breaking open death of the cell. In multicellular organisms, if enough cells die the whole organism will start to suffer the effects.

In addition when a virus takes control it can give us a variety of diseases. Examples of common human diseases caused by viruses are a common cold, influenza, chickenpox, and cold sores. Also there are serious diseases such as Ebola, AIDS, avian influenza and SARS are caused by viruses as well (Human Diseases Caused by Viruses).

In conclusion, viruses are a dangerous substance that enters our bodies when we would least expect they would. Viruses track many harmful things into our bodies such as diseases that are hard to get rid of. Overall viruses try to make our bodies there new homes, and they don’t plan on moving out anytime soon.

Bibliography
Facts about Viruses. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2012, from dialouge for kids: http://idahoptv.org/dialogue4kids/season8/viruses/facts.cfm
lHuman Diseases Caused by Viruses. (n.d.). Retrieved April 26, 2012, from News Medica: http://www.news-medical.net/health/Human-Diseases-Caused-by-Viruses.aspx
science, L. (2012). Virus. Retrieved April 19, 2012, from LiveScience: http://www.livescience.com/topics/virus/
Victoria, S. G. (n.d.). Infections - bacterial and viral. Retrieved 4 23, 2012, from Better Health Channel: http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/infections_bacterial_and_viral?open

Good Mom, Bad Mom.

Authors Note: This essay is showing that different points of view can change the whole feeling about the story. I will we showing that the reader would feel differently if it was in the point of view of Christopher’s mother in the book, “The curious incident of the dog in the night time,” instead of him.

Do you know what perspective is? It is the narrator's position in relation to the story being told. Things in a different perspective can change the other story, such as: the mood, tone, and your overall opinion on the individuals in the story. For instance in the story, The curious of incident of the dog in the night time, by Mark Haddon, you would see the story completely differently if the story was in the perspective of Christopher mother instead of him. Seeing things in different perspective, changes the whole story.

For instance if the story was told in Christopher’s mother point of view, you wouldn’t see her as the jerk that cheated on her husband and ruined the family. Christopher was lied to by his father saying that his mother was dead, when truly she was alive and has been sending her son a letter each week since she had “left” the family. This makes Christopher’s mom look like a bad person, but if you look in her point of view you would see that: see wasn’t in love with Christopher’s dad, it is very hard to be a mother of an autistic kid with a low temper, and she got kicked out of her own house.

In addition to the previous statement, I would like to add that Christopher’s mom never wanted to leave her son, she got kicked out. The way I read the story Christopher’s mom: ran away, cheated on her husband, and didn’t care about her son anymore. These two points of view bring completely different feelings and opinions towards Christopher’s mother and the other characters throughout the story.

Overall different points of view are different ways of looking at situations. It determines your moods and feelings about the story and also your personal opinion on the characters. For instance if you were in Christopher’s moms point of view you would you would be sympathetic and sad for her because she cant see her son and got kicked out. If you were in Christopher’s point of view you would see the mom as a mother that didn’t care about her son and tried to make up for it by sending a letter each week, and as a horrible person and mother all together. In conclusion different points of view, change the whole story.

Tone and Mood

Big yellow Taxi in the song is a happy go lucky tone , while in the poem I got more of a depressed vibe, so I was shoved and my feelings on the poem changed. At first I felt sympathetic but after hearing the song, my opinion changed. I think the song when the guy sang it showed the tone better then, when the girl sang the song. So the overall mood was very depressing and upsetting. The tone the author was trying to display was to make the reader feel bad for the person because they never see stars because of all of the big city lights. The mood and the tone are quite similar there both depressing. To me the mood and the tone were different in the song and the poem because when listening to the music its hard to really listen to the lyrics when the music is chiming in. I feel like poetry means more because you are reading the actual lyrics and theres no music involved to distract you.


In addition the poem, " field below," was extremely depressing to hear and I thought the music played the perfect roll to the lyrics. The authors purpose was to make the listener feel sympathetic because all of the fields ad nature are turning into parking lots and shopping malls. The overall mood was very depressing and it makes you feel like you want to do something to help nature. The tone the author is trying to make you feel sympathetic and bad for the person just like the poem listed earlier, "Yellow Taxi." Between the poem and song, they were very similar.

Were blacks really free in the North?

Authors Note:This essay is going to be about black slaves thinking the North is the answer to there freedom, but is it really?

Black people were treated very poorly in the South; many slaves thought going to the North was there path to freedom, but that reasoning is not fully correct. Which leads me to questioning, how free were blacks in the North? In my opinion, I don’t think blacks were free because there were still slave owners in the North just not even as close to as many. Some places in the North blacks could be free but they still lived under certain rules for only race and were not free for living under white people.

Black slaves had to live with many rules. For instance they weren’t allowed to vote. Although black men could vote before white women could. Black people could never say things they wanted or speak their minds for that matter. Black women and men were not allowed to vote. No blacks were allowed to have their say in anything.

Blacks also did not have social freedoms. For example they were not allowed to own property. Blacks were not allowed to be in a white man’s church. Blacks had their own churches, and what they did in there was do all of the things that they couldn’t do outside of the church. Such as speak their mind, have their voice be heard even if it was only their own race. The church was a way to get away from all of the rules of white men and to feel free.

This racism also had to do with jobs. Blacks made way under minimum wage but they still did the work because they had to support their families. Whites gave blacks the jobs they didn’t want to do and paid the black’s way less then what the job should pay. Overall they are still working for white men.

Overall I can conclude that Blacks were treated practically the same in the North as they were in the South. They still lived under a white man, which doesn’t sound exactly what you call free to me. Although the North was less racist then the South and didn’t really believe in slavery, the North still did not see blacks as equals.

Who said Life was Easy?

Authors note: This essay will be about an autistic boy named Christopher in the story, “The curious incident of the dog in the night-time,” and why he is a dynamic character.

Christopher isn’t just like any other 15 year old boy, Christopher is autistic. His mind works differently than a normal person. Christopher notices things other people don’t, he can remember numbers, and he has rules that he makes about life. Raising an autistic kid is much harder than a regular kid. Christopher is brilliant in some areas but when it comes to people he has to think extra hard. Things such as feelings and jokes Christopher does not understand, which makes it harder on his father who does it alone because his mother died of a “heart attack, “when he was younger. Christopher is a dynamic character because of the things can do even with his disability.

Throughout Christopher’s life he has always lived within his own comfort zone, and didn’t like taking risks. After his neighbor Ms. Shear’s dog named Wellington was murdered, Christopher was on the case, he would go to any length to find Wellington’s murder. Christopher went around asking his neighbors if they have seen anything the night Wellington which was breaking his rule of talking to strangers.

Later in the book Christopher finds these letters in his father’s room addressed to him, they were from his mother. He realized the date on the letters, his mother had not died, she moved to London. Which leads him to think, if his mother didn’t die what happened to her? Why did she leave? Later when Christopher’s father came home he told Christopher that he had kicked her out, because she cheated on him with Mr. Shears. Then he told Christopher, “I’m going to tell you the truth from now on Christopher, I killed Wellington.” Christopher no longer felt safe in his father’s presence, he knew he had to take a risk and run away. Christopher has never been out of town before by himself. He was off to find his mother in London in which he would have to take a 3 hour train to get to. This was a huge challenge for Christopher.

Overall Christopher all throughout the story faces challenges, he is not normally used to. It varies from talking to stranger to taking a train to London. Without Christopher there would be no story, he figures out things that other people don’t. Christopher isn’t going to let his disability stop him from doing what he wants to do.

Fixing Something that is not Broken

Authors Note: This piece is about a famous quote from vince lobardi saying, "Never change a winning game always change a losing one," and its meaning.

All around the world there’s coaches that are teaching people of all ages to learn the lessons of the game. There’s more to just a game then running through the plays, you have to play with heart and dedication. Just the thrill of being in the game should be enough to keep you going. Sadly you can’t always win every time you play and you have to learn from the mistakes you make, which is what Vince Lombardi a former football coach meant as he said, “Never change a winning game always change a losing one”. Vince Lombardi is a legendary coach who inspires people to not fix something that’s not broken and fix something that is.

The reasoning behind this quote means never change something you do right only wrong. This quote isn’t exactly a true statement. Reason being is because in every game there’s something you need to improve on. Nobody’s perfect if we were we wouldn’t need practice, but that’s impossible.

Same words and meanings of Vince Lombardi were also said by Bill Tilden(American Tennis player) back in the early 19 hundreds . Both of these men both thought when they won, “hey it worked so why change it,” and when they lost they thought, “Find the mistakes made and change them.”

When hearing this quote it brings back memories of my own father after every game I played, tell me the good things and the things that need to be improved. There was never one day that he didn’t tell me I didn’t do anything wrong. Even the littlest of things such as you moved your leg when you were shooting, can change a game.

Coaches aren’t just teaching you about a sport many things they say and do, can relate to your everyday life. For example in this quote when it says “don’t lose a winning game only choose a losing one,” what life lesson you can take from that is if you’re getting good grades keep doing what you’re doing but if you’re not then there’s something you can change. That is just one perspective many more meanings can be taken from this quote. Another is this quote also makes me think of a husband trying to fix the washing machine when nothing is truly broken. Then he tries to fix it and it gets worse, when really he should be calling an expert. Just goes to show don’t break something if it isn’t broken.

Vince Lombardi worldwide known coach teaches people everywhere the value of the game. He is a legendary coach who led his team to many victories as well as super bowls. A final message to take from this is how to look at a sports game as well as the game of life.

Getting through the Obstacles

Authors note: This essay will be a text analysis essay explaining what, “Life ain’t no crystal stair," means from the famous poem, “mother to son," along with a personal connection.

In 1902 Langston Hughes was born. Growing up as a black boy wasn’t easy, Langston wasn’t treated equal like other white boys his age. He grew up in a time period were the color of peoples skin determined their lifestyles. Langston Hughes wrote a poem called,” Mother to a Son.” Within this poem there is a quote saying, “Life aint no crystal stair,” this poem was a poem from a mother to a son saying that life will not be easy but you need to get over what obstacles life throws at you and finish the race.

I think this author wrote this poem because it was when people read the poem it teaches you to never give up and to believe there is always hope. Langston wrote this poem in a black women's point of view, writing to her young son. Langston was trying to display that life was harder blacks in the time period he lived in and that life it isn't easy, your face with many hard challenges because of your race, religion, etc. Langston poem was to all people saying life aint no crystal stair," meaning life won’t be easy, but the poem is trying to get you a feeling of never giving up.

I have been through many obstacles of my own, everybody has them. For example a huge obstacle in my life was when my parents got divorced when I was 5. Divorce is a long process and brings lots of drama. Many challenges come with divorce such as not seeing my mom or dad every day, taking different buses home, as long as many other challenges, and sure it hasn’t been easy. Even though it was a big challenge I chose to not let it get me down and fight through it.

As Langston said in his poem, “Life, for me aint been no crystal stair, there’s been tacks in it, and splinters, and boards torn up.” Overall Langston was showing people that life isn’t easy, there will be good times and bad times, but you have to get over the bad obstacles in life and finish the race strong.

By the Way

By the way...
your mother
she did not die
she is alive

I know
you spent weeks
balling your
eyes out

But then again
she had an affair
with Mr. shears
so I kicked her out.


This is a parody of the book The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night Time. The speaker is Christopher's dad. The audience is Christopher. The tone of this poem is sorrowful and hateful. The mood of this is shocked and overwhelmed.

Never give up.

Authors Note:In this writing piece Iwill be teling you about what the poem meant to me and what it should mean to others.

This poem is a great poem that has to do with racism and how life isnt easy. This author wrote this poem in a time were blacks were not treated equally. As a child he grew up with issues regarding his race. The is why he said life is no crystal stair, which means life for us isnt easy, but that doesnt mean you stop trying. It means that you get over the hurrdles life gives you and finsih the race.

This poem means alot to me because when I was 5 years old means a lot to me because when i was 5 my parents got devorced. I was so young but yet I could still remember how I felt. Thatwas a huge opsticle in my life and many challenges came with it. Life is no crystel stair but that doesnt mean you can stop trying.

"The Summer I turned Pretty"

Authors Note:This short essay is a retelling piece of a book, " The Summer I turned Pretty."

Jenna is a teenage girl who has to choose between her first laugh and her first love; she has to make the decision that will change her relationship with both of them forever. Who will she pick?

Just a Little Bump in the Road

Authors Note: This story is going to be about the conflict in the story, Rules of the Road, by Joan Bauer and how it was resolved.

When you’re in a car for 200 miles you really get know a person. For instance in, Rules of the Road, by Joan Bauer young Jenna learned a lot more bout Mrs. Gladstone then she ever thought possible. She found out the stress her son has been putting her under, by trying to take and change her business. There are many conflicts and obstacles in the story but Elden her own son trying to take his mother, Mrs.Gladstones business away from her and forcing her into retirement is the main conflict.

In addition the previous statement, you can tell the son Elden is tired of walking in his mother footsteps and wants to take over making more profits, but not making the money the way he should. Elden is trying to change shoes and use materials such as plastic which is cheaper and not even close to as comfortable. Elden tried changing the way people see Gladstone’s shoes, just to make a couple more bucks. Throughout the story Elden is hiring new people, changing the quality of the shoes, and is fighting his mother for the whole entire company.

Why I think this is the main conflict is because throughout the story is because throughout the story old Mrs. Gladstone and young teen Jenna are doing everything in their power to keep her business and to get the most votes of stock holders, gaining there trust. Jenna and Mrs. Gladstone show that selling shoes aren’t just another job, and that a person’s shoes are a person’s lifestyle. What Elden is doing is practically changing the motto Gladstone’s shoes has always been known for, “We don’t just sell shoes, we sell quality.”He is doing the opposite he isn’t selling quality he is just selling poorly made shoes that will give peoples blisters, and other problems.

Overall the conflict got resolved in the end, because Mrs. Gladstone got to keep being an owner of Gladstone’s shoes, but her son got a piece of the business as well, the main point was she was no longer forced to retire. The young teen Jenna showed all of the stock workers the importance of keeping Mrs. Gladstone around, and the impact she has on the company, and letting her retire would be a big mistake.

Wise for a Young One

Authors note: This essay is going to be about a quote from the novel, “Rules of the Road.” The quote says, ”You have learned a great deal in your sixteen years.”The words from the main character Mrs. Gladstone to a young teenager Jenna who is another main character.

Have you been through a lot in your childhood? Well young Jenna in,"Rules of the Road" has. Her father is a drug attic that comes to her work half wasted. Her parents got divorced when she was young. In the story main character Mrs. Gladstone said to Jenna, “You have learned a great deal in your sixteen years.”Jenna has jumped over so many obstacles in her life at such a young age, which made her mature faster.

In addition to that statement is the reason she is more mature then most kids is she had her parents get divorced at a young age and her dad is a druggie who lives in different girls houses. How she is mature is because she has been through a lot so she knows life is not a fairy tale very early in life. Also Jenna unlike most teenagers practically works full time as a shoe salesman. Jenna is way more mature and ready for the work world unlike other people her age who are semi clueless when knowing what they want to do with their life, and knowing mommy and daddy can’t pay for everything.

In conclusion I think kids who have bad experiences when their younger need to learn how to get through them which I think makes them a lot more mature. Most kids are stuck in the fantasy land where everything is perfect, but in reality life is defiantly not a fairytale, it is a story of battles and love and war, and in the end you may or may not end up ok. Which leads me to think Mrs. Gladstone notices Jenna growing up because she has seen her drunk father and she knows what to do when it comes to family. Overall Jenna from Rules of the Road has had a lot challenges that have made her more mature at an early age.

Family is Forever

Authors Note: This essay will be about how kids/teenagers think friends is your number one priority, when family are the people who are with you together.

Around the world kids typically think there friends should be there first priority over family. As kids go into the teenage years we have so many of these so called, “BFF’s,” or, “Best Friends Forever,” to bad there is no guarantee that they will be there for you forever. Friends come and go, but family is with you forever, whether you like it or not.

In addition to the previous statement above, I can relate because although I am 14, sometimes I treat my friends and think of them as first priority in my life. For instance my brothers’ birthday dinner weekend was coming up, and so were the two biggest basketball game of the season against Pewaukee’s biggest rivals. To say the least I really wanted to go. Therefore knowing all of my friends would be there it gave me a sense of excitement and I was looking forward to it, so I ask my brother when he wants to go out to dinner, and he wasn’t sure. I was furious because, if I missed the game, I knew I would miss out on the latest gossip and a good opportunity to hang out with my friends. Then it hit me. My brother was there for my birthday dinner, he ditched his friends for me. Sure I might miss out on the latest gossip, and miss out on the latest inside jokes, but he ditched his friends for me and I should do the same for him. My brother was there for me, and I know he always will be.

Pursuing this further this issue makes me think of a famous quote saying, “Other things may change us, but we start and end with family, “by Anthony Brandt. What I think this poem is saying is other people will try to change you, but your family will love you for you, forever. You’re friends can’t always be there for you: they may move, find other friends that they may like better, or maybe you just never see each other. Typically teens are trying to see there friends and be with them constantly and completely forget the importance of family.

Furthermore this topic resembles to the novel, “Airhead,” by Meg Cabot. The main characters best friend left her because she changed her geeky ways and became a super model, while her family was completely supportive of her wishes. As soon as the main characters friend, didn’t like the new person she had become, she stopped being her friend because of it. In the end her friend never came back, but her family accepted her and was proud of her for who she became. Even though the family wasn't all that thrilled about her new choice at life they supported her, and they always will.

In conclusion family should be every teenager’s first priority over friends. All of these examples add up to one solution, friends come and go but family is forever. They may seem like they will be with you forever, but there is no guaranty. Overall family whether you like it or not will love and be there for you forever.

Dont Judge a Book by its Cover.

Authors note: This Paragraph is going to be about one of the main characters, Mrs. Gladstone in the story Rules of the Road, and how she impacts other characters.

Hello group members! Today I will be telling you about the one of the main characters, Mrs. Gladstone, in the book, “Rules of the Road.” My character is Mrs. Gladstone who has been in the shoe business for practically her whole life. People see her as a scary old bat, when truly she is mad that her son is taking her business/life away from her. He thinks she should live in a nurse ring home in Florida, just because she is old. Yet Jenna a young employee she’s through what people see as mean old lady. Jenna she’s that her losing this business is killing her, because she sees the pride and love she has in selling shoes, and the thought of not going to work sadness her, especially when her son is practically changing everything. Mrs.Gladstone influenced the young teen Jenna by showing her that you don’t just sell shoes as an occupation; you do it because you love it.

"What would Happen if there were Bricks in the Purse."

Authors Note: This essay is going to be about what it would be like if the climax of a boy trying to steal a woman's purse never happened.

In the story, Thank you Ma'am, a boy tried stealing a middle aged woman's purse, which was filled with everything you could think of and more. If the boy wouldn't of tried stealing the woman's purse for some money for cool blue suede shoes, he wouldn't have been kicked in the butt and shook till his teeth rattled. Also the boy wouldn't have been scared out of his mind by the woman who resembled Queen Latifa, who he thought would be scared of him but she wasn't. The boy for once in his life had a friend, a person who fed him, and a person who even washed his face and cleaned him up. This care and friendship would have never formed if the boy didn’t try to steal that woman's purse for those cool suede blue shoes.If this never happened he would have never got those cool blue suede shoes and unexpectedly a friendship.

Just think the boy was planning on just stealing the purse easily and running away with it. He thought this poor old lady would probably just scream help while running away. He would never think that the lady's purse would be so heavy and he'd fall on his butt, that was defiantly not part of the plan.Even though what he thought of what was a good plan to steal a poor womans purse.

“There are Always Two Sides to a Story.”

Authors Note: In this essay I will be writing about how when you read a story the point of view of the person who is writing it determines the way people look at the whole book.

In the story My Brother Sam is Dead a father and his son named Sam Meeker, are fighting about whether or not he will let his son go fight for the Americans in Revolutionary war. The story is written in the point of Sam’s younger brother, noting his observations of the war and his brother's involvement. From this perspective, a lot of events and characters are described in a way that creates a visual of a lot of arguments that turn into state of melancholy between Sam Meeker and his father.

One way that Tim Meeker’s point of view influences the reader’s interpretation is how this perspective describes how he wishes to be like his brother, thinking that the war is a symbolism of strength. Making his father look like the bad guy, because he doesn’t want his son, who is only 16 and is still a child to do a man’s work. When I read this story, I feel like Sam is old enough to make his own decisions and doesn’t need his father trying to make all of his choices for him as if he were a child.

However, the reader would feel a lot differently about Sam going off to War at the age of 16 if the novel were written in the point of view of his father. For instance, the reader wouldn’t think of the father as the bad guy because the father only is trying to protect his son, and try to make his child like himself. If the father wrote the story, you would think that it is good parenting and not letting him go is for the best.

As you can see, the point of view of a story forces the reader to see just one side of an event or topic. In My brother Sam is Dead the narrators perspective makes the reader think that Sam Meekers father is smothering him, and he is old enough to make his own decisions. Overall the point of view of a story can change the way people look at the whole entire picture.