Social Awarness #8 (Based on Wanted flyers)

       Something I noticed was Wanted flyers on stores and buses. These are pictures of rapist, abusers and murderers. What's terrible, is the amount of flyers, there are so many and that doesn't even count the real amount of people in New York! The thing that could make this worse, is the amount of people that get hurt by these murderers, rapist and abusers.

       There so many reasons why these people do what they do. For example, maybe murderers just likes to see someones terrified face. Rapist could just feels alone so he rapes to feel like he's no longer lonely. Last but not least, abusers could just like giving people pain. The effect that they have on people are lost loved ones, nightmares and suicide, but the list can on forever. Sadly there is no solution unless you always make sure your kid get home before dark and you get home safely. So if you see a Wanted sign, actually look at the face on it, so you don't become one of their victims.

Social Awarness #11(Scene based on racism)

      I'm writing this scene to show how big a problem like racism is. It has effected many lives and hurt many people. It may not be the biggest problem right now, but it's still out there.
     
      We walked into the resturant, leaving the Tennessee breeze behind us to have a nice family meal. My mom asked for a seat for five people, me, my mom, my dad, and my two sisters. The woman taking the reservation was blond, had perfect teeth, and tan skin. She told my mom that they will bring us to the tables soon.

      So a white family with the same amount of people walked up to the perfect teeth lady, asked for their table and walked right through. Apparently my mom noticed to because she walked up to the lady and asked,"Did those people reserve over the phone?"
 
     The perfect teeth lady smiled simply and said,"No."
  
      Then my mom asked, " Why did they go before us then?"

      "Because,'' the lady said like my mom was a little child, "We help your kind after we help out other customers."

      "What do you mean, my kind?" I could see my mom getting angry now.
       
        " I mean black people, now we are very busy, so please miss go back to the waiting area."

      My mom was so mad, that we never went to Tennessee again.

Out of Sight Out of Time

   
                 Have you ever forgotten something, and when it comes back your emotions come in so many different combos? Meet Cammie Morgan, the happened to loose her memory of the summer and she doesn't    know how. What's worse is that no one was with her during the summer, because she was trying to protect her friends from the Circle of Cavan. The Circle of Cavan is a group of bad secret agents, and they been trying to get Cammie. In the end Cammie and her friends find out what happened in the summer and it was not expected.

                  They're going to Rome. When Cammie returned from the Alps, Cammie and her friends go looking for clues of where Cammie went over the summer at Mr.Solom's cabin. They went there because Cammie's mom found secret, security footage of Cammie and Liz (one of Cammie's friends), found a letter from Cammie, sent from Rome. So they went to Rome. At Rome Cammie remembered a safe home that she stayed in, and then she remembered about it. She ran behind the house to find a clearing and she remembered. A cold voice in her head said," The least we can do is bring her to her father." Even before she remembered this, I think she already knew where her father was. He was buried and now that Cammie knows exactly where her father is, it hurts a lot.

                  The song was discovered. Throughout the book, a song kept playing in the back of  Cammie's head. She never knew where it was frome until, Dr.Steve (a teacher at her spy school that was willing help Cammie sort out her feelings), reminded her of where she first heard the song. It was the day before her father went missing and they were at the circus. When Cammie is remembering everything, she speaks out loud,"A woman is stopping in front of us. She's dropped her purse and he's (Cammie's dad) helping her. There's a napkin on the ground. He offers it to her and leads me away... There's a list of names written on the napkin." I think then she realized the importance of the napkin, it was the thing she was looking for,for most of the book. It was the list that could down the Circle of Cavan. This was the importance of the song.

                 As you can see, memory can be helpful, surprising, and painful. Cammie went through that all and more. Memories also help you realize things you didn't before.

Sandy's Impact

          In the article,"After a Gas Station Runs Dry, Cabbies Park and Wait," the author, Winnie Hu tries to show us how unfair it is for cab drivers waiting for gas. People  are waiting for gas to return to Hess gas station on 10th ave and 44th street. The line is pass 22nd street and not many people have moved from the line. Families are even sleeping in there cars. It's really bad.

       Fritz Petite-Homme, a Brooklyn cab driver who was being taxed while waiting in line. He has been sitting in his yellow cab for a while with only a quarter of gas in his tank. Since he was parking and not driving, he was loosing up to $35 every hour. He would have went to Manhattan, but it's way worse. When Homme got to the front of the line, there was no more gas, he said, "It was so bad I didn't even try," I think he thinks that even though he's in third place, he's not gaining anything because there is no gas. Homme went home with the quarter filled tank he came with.
 
        John Solomon, a 50 year old cab driver  who lives in Washington Heights, faces some really bad conditions while waiting for gas. One problem  was his job! Solomon was in third place for gas, when his job called for him to pick up a client. He had to get out of the line for to hours for his client and return to the end of the long line. Solomon decided to save gas by turning off the heater and keeping his foot of the gas petal. If it take to long he would go to new Jersey. As Solomon drove of he said,"You know when you're so close, but so far?" I think he feels like if he waits in line, he's so close to getting gas, but he feels far away because  there's no gas.

        After reading the article, I see how much worse the cab drivers have than I thought. Homme waited in his car for gas that never came and taxed for it. Solomon had to leave the line for two hours for his client and not only lost his spot, but he also lost the chance  to be on of the first to get gas. Also since the gas station was packed he decided to go get gas in New Jersey. So now he's loosing gas gaining chances, he also has to  go to a gas station farther away from his home. This is not fair! Mayor  Bloomberg has to do something about this and fast.

Morganville Vampires

Who knew that karma be so real?In The  Morganville Vampires , Claire, a 16 yr old genius goes to Morganville, Texas for college. When Claire is there, she is bullied by a girl named Monica. It's so bad that that Claire had to find a place out of  college to sleep. In the  end Monica gets what she deserves.

 When Claire was still in the college dorms,  Monica was really cruel to her. This whole war between Claire and Monica started when  Claire corrected Monica in front of her friends. Monica said that World War two,"Was the dumb ass Chinese thing," and Claire corrected her. Monica probably felt embarrassed and thought Claire was trying to steal her spotlight. So the first thing that Monica did,to get back at Claire, was take all of Claire's good clothes out of the washing machine, and then dump them down the garbage chute. Monica even wrote Claire a note that said,"Dear dork, we found trash in the machines and threw it down the chute. If you want it, dive for it." This made me think that Monica is sending a message. Monica wants Claire to go away or be taken away like the clothes she threw down the chute.Monica probably wants to seem smart, and she thinks Claire will ruin that  for her. Also Monica and her friends also fought Claire after she say the note Monica wrote her. When Claire was walking up the steps, Monica and her friends started pushing Claire around. When Claire started to defend herself, all the girls pushed down the steps.While Claire was on the ground defenseless, Monica said,"You'll get what coming to you," when Monica actually gets whats coming to her.

In the second half of the book Monica gets it. Claire and Eve (one of Claire's housemate) are lookig for someone to help them save Shane, when Monica finds Claire and abducts her, Claire wakes up on the floor of one of Monica's vans and one of Monica's friends on her. Then the van was stopped by another van,  a man with bikers stepped out and approached their van. Monica was going to hurt Claire, but her plans were ruined because the man takes Monica and Claire hostage, but lets Monica's friends go. Monica was so scared,  that Claire even saw,"Tears glitter in her eyes." You can tell that Monica is scared. I think the reason why she's scared is because she knows this man can really hurt her, the tears prove that.Monica also probably heard of the terrible things her did to vampires, and she knows that whatever he's going to do to her is going to be painful. Monica deserves to feel scared, she made Claire so afraid, that she didn't even want to go to school  for classes. This shows that Monica got her karma

 When it comes to karma, it means what goes comes around. Monica made  feel pain, now she's going to get hurt. I think that Monica got herself into this mess and if she was just a nice person to everyone, she would have not been apart of this.No one deserves to feel the way Claire felt, and now Monica will feel the pain.  I discovered  that when I look at some of the things I said, I notice that this book was really good at teaching a lesson that no good comes out of putting negative energy into the world.

The Drummer Boy of Shiloh

Usually in a  war, soldiers are nervous and afraid of battle, but some also show bravery and they believe that they are immortal. In The Drummer Boy of Shiloh," a fourteen year old boy named Joby is the new drummer boy for one of the sides in the civil war.This boy is just scared of war because he believes that he doesn't stand a chance in the war even because he thinks he's going to die, even though he's just going to be drumming. In the end, Joby overcomes his fear by talking to the general.

Why is Joby so afraid? Well  the troops and Joby are in a forest where nothing seems like what it really is. Anything can happen at anytime. Joby was deep in thought he said,"Me, I got only a drum, two sticks to beat it, and no shield." This proved to me that he was really scared because  he feels hopeless and that there is no way he'll survive. Joby  can't take it! Joby is so scared that he even starts to cry, and what makes it worse is that no one is there to comfort him.Except when the general comes.

Joby  has no courage at all and who's there to change that? The general! One way the general helps, is by letting Joby know it okay to cry. By the general doing this, it lets Joby know that he'll be able to go home, the general even told him, "Many years from now,when you're as old or far much older then me, when they ask you what you did in this awful time, you will tell them-one part humble and one part proud- I was a drummer boy at the battle of Owl Creek or Tennessee River." The fact the general even thinks Joby will survive, gives him more courage.

The general also helped Joby by letting him know how important being a drummer boy is. The general said,"You are the heart of the army,"and Joby couldn't believe it! The general also said by the way that Joby hits his drum is the way the army matches. If the beat is slow, then the army will feel depressed and have no energy, but if the beat is strong, then the army will march strong and be ready to fight. Since the general said this, Joby feels more ready then ever and he can't wait to drum.

Joby has gotten his courage and it was all because of the general. When I think about our world and the way we get over our fears are usually from the help of someone else. This person gives us advice or comforts us when we need it. I know when i start a new school and i'm afraid, I can always ask my mom for advice. The advice that general gave Joby was great and now Joby is ready to play his best and forget about his fears.

theme and response

When you usually make a choice to go with someone it's because you trust them, but how do you choose to go somewhere with someone you barely know? In the book "Only the Good Spy Young" by Ally Carter, things like that don't seem to matter that much to Cameron  or Cammie Morgan. Cameron has been spying for a while, and now in this book Cammie is being chased by the 'Secret Circle' which is a group that recruits boys and girls from  schools that teach them how to be spies, they want Cammie because her father was a very important spy that was killed. Cammie dodges many interferences with the secret circle and she also learns new shocking things about the people she trust. I'm going to explain the difference between how Cammie's ways of life and ours.

   Speaking of trust, lets talk about Cammie's sort-of -boyfriend Zack, he's a spy too and he happens to be a pretty good liar when it comes to Cammie. Cammie can barely tell if Zack is lying. Through out the story Zack has been keeping a bunch of secrets from her and one of his biggest secrets come out, but she has nothing  to but thank him. But that doesn't mean she trust him. Cammie also has a choice to make, either to save herself or the people she love. Through this decision  she has to go with the guy she doesn't trust, interesting turn out huh? I guess you have to read the book to figure it out.

 In our world we don't deal with people we don't trust. Usually we stay away from someone  we no longer trust is because the person we don't trust did something that made us no longer trust them. Sure we give them one more chance maybe even two, but then that's it. This trust thing mainly applies to problems like back stabbing, cheating, and talking about about your friend in bad way. What's crazy, is that these things are little and Cameron's problems are big, and she still gives Zack more chances.

That is why their is such a big difference to our world's. Yes they both are complicated, but if I had to guess, the spy world is way harder then ours. From what I know, trust is a hard thing to gain,it's even harder to regain, but its easy to loose, so be careful with what you do and be smart with what you say.