Election Poem

Election,

You only have one selection

Choose wise,

Or you will end in demise,

Because the person you choose

Might not let you go on that cruise

So choose wise,

Or you will end in demise.

The Traditions and Inumanity of this World

The short story called The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a story that portrays the inhumanity that is inside everybody and how it is brought out especially by the urge to win and the traditions in a community like the one in the story.

The themes in the lottery are senseless violence and tradition. Senseless violence because the award for winning the lottery was getting stoned to death most likely. Also When old man Warner was talking with Mr. Summers he was saying that the village in the north was not participating in the lottery, Mr. Warner said that it was barbaric and that they were changing with the times. But the real barbaric ones were the people in his village because of the senseless violence that is brought out in people when someone wins something.

Also a theme in the short story is tradition because the people in the village were sticking with the tradition of having the lottery every year even though what it did to people. The tradition of having a lottery every year and having them being stoned to most likely the point of death is barbaric which goes completely against what Old man Warner was saying.

And lastly a theme in The Lottery is Naivety or blind faith because the villagers believe that this is the way of life and every other village as well. The villagers are very naive because they only believe in one thing and that is senseless violence because of the lottery and the blind faith they live by with the traditions that are upheld in the community.

The Pencil Named Rory

"Don't sharpen me!" cried the Rory the pencil. But Tony the human didn't listen to him as he slowly walked toward the toward the old fashioned wall sharpener.

"Nooo! The things that I have seen you do to my friends is unbearable! shrieked Rory. But Tony paid no attention, because this was a deed that had to be done. Tony had just found the unsharpened pencil on the ground and quickly scooped it into his pencil pouch where he kept his victims, I mean pencils. Tony realized that this pencil should have a proper name.
"Hmm, I think I'll name you Rory, from my favorite original TV show, The Adventures of Starship Rory." But unlike any pencil that Tony had seen, this pencil talked, loudly, and with much annoyance that Tony disliked heavily. But it was no matter for the deed had to be done. As he walked slowly toward the sharpener, Tony quickly thought to himself,
"Hey, if I were to not sharpen him maybe he would shut up and let me finish me math homework." So Tony quickly formed an agreement with Rory, much to Tony's disliking, that for as long as Rory didn't talk to much, Tony wouldn't sharpen him. They quickly formed a friendship and became good friends.

But then during one Spanish class as Tony's friend Sam was arguing with him about who invented the Spanish language, which Sam did of course, but Rory wouldn't shut up about it. As Tony came back from the lavatory, he told Rory to shut up as well, but Rory was oblivious to Tony's request. He kept blabbing about how he invented the language and that Sam should stop lying. So after a heated debate in which Sam and Tony won, Tony got so fed up with Rory that the picked him up and started to walk to the pencil sharpener and threatened to push Rory into the sharpener if he didn't shut up, but Rory was a dunderhead and did listen claiming that Tony did have the gut to do so. "Tony, you wish that you could put me in there but you don't have the guts."

"Oh, I don’t huh. Well take this!" And Rory screamed, shouted, and yelled in a matter that was very unsettling and Tony did the deed. Rory was no more and he never talked again.

What Defines Us

Cause and Effect Essay

Authors Note: This essay is a cause and effect piece about one of the book I recently read, Eragon. I will also be analyzing the climax of the book.

               

                Hunting, just to survive the looming winter that is closing in fast, but as you are just about the let go of the bow that would get you some meat to endure the harsh weather ahead, an explosion of light blinds you and in a ditch you find a stone, smooth and looks like and egg. This is what happened to Eragon, and the choices that he makes change his life forever.

                

                The first choice that changed his life was the choice of bringing the egg back to his house and show his cousin and his uncle. This changed his life because now two people know and they might accidently tell others and then people would be wondering how much it was worth and trying to steal it from him.

                 

               While the choice of showing the egg to his closest friends was a major choice in his life, the choice to travel and train with Brom is life changing as well. When he goes to train with Brom and hunt the Ra’zac his decision is a crucial one because now Eragon is looked at like a sissy and he looks like he won’t face fears.

               

               Even though traveling with Brom is an important decision, the climax is when Eragon is with the Varden in Farthen Dur and he kills the Shade Durza and frees the Urgals from Durza’s spirits. This is the climax because in every situation he could have decided to walk away and resume a peaceful lifestyle in the place where he grew up, the Palancar Valley.

                 

              The choices that Eragon makes are one that have an effect one not only him but others around him, and as J.K Rowling said, “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

DNA in Criminal Investigation and Forensic Study

Sam Queen

DNA in Criminal Investigation and Forensic Study

Before 1986, at a crime scene police used to look for a footprint and a witness that could identify who was the contrite one. But now police try to find a DNA sample to identify to the victim and the culprit.  DNA is used in most cases and virtually provides 100% insight on a person’s identity and whether they are guilty or not.

                Before you learn about DNA you need to know a little background knowledge. Deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA is the material in almost every living being including humans (What is DNA?). DNA is found in almost every cell in the human body. Most DNA is found in the cell nucleus (What is DNA?).

                While having background knowledge on DNA is essential to learn more about the study and use of DNA you should know why it is used in a forensic lab. DNA fingerprinting is a technique that studies the individual attributes of a person’s DNA. The use of DNA fingerprinting has massively changed maternity/paternity testing, forensics, and the identification of disaster victims (Use of DNA in Identification). DNA is very useful in the identification of a person or persons. According to www.dnai.org, when preformed correctly, DNA based study not only shows proof positive evidence, and it shows the identity of the person without bias (Use of DNA in Identification).

                Now that you know why it is used in a forensic lab you should know how it can be used effectively. “Today's techniques can multiply the DNA, producing millions of copies from tiny amounts of evidence, such as the saliva from a cigarette butt” (Wittmeyer). This means that even if it of the minuscule size police analysis can find it and multiply it so there are thousand if not millions of samples at their disposal. “This approach is also helpful for analyzing poor-quality DNA in evidence samples collected from dirty crime scenes” (Wittmeyer). So even at a crime scene in a forest and sewer a police scan can still find the crucial samples of DNA to determine a verdict.

                Now that you know about how DNA can be used effectively you should be able to apply this to the real world. In 2007 a man by the name of Jason Nickerson, sexually assaulted a 16 year old girl and then threw her out of the car and threatened to kill her family if she didn’t cooperate. Nickerson took her purse and phone as well. The only way for the jury to tell if the defendant guilty or not was by DNA sampling. "DNA has become one of the most reliable pieces of evidence in criminal investigations and prosecutions," Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin said in a statement. "Not only does it provide the opportunity for more efficient investigations, it also provides for more effective investigations by assisting in cold cases, such as this one” (Crimaldi).

                As Richard Dawkins said, “DNA neither cares nor knows. DNA just is. And we dance to its music.” In most cases that involve the identification of a victim or criminal, DNA is something that can provide proof positive evidence of a person’s identity.

               

Crimaldi, Laura. "Jury Convicts RI Man of Sexual Assault." 11 April 2012. The Republic. 24 April 2012 <http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/f92cf89890d146caa2356685bf378072/RI--Cold-Case-Sexual-Assault/>.

"Use of DNA in Identification." 2003. DNA Interactive. 17 April 2012 <http://www.dnai.org/d/index.html >.

"What is DNA?" Genetics Home Reference. 17 April 2012 <http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/basics/dna>.

Wittmeyer, Jacqui. "Can DNA Demand a Verdict." Genetic Science Learning Center. 19 April 2012 <http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/labs/gel/forensics/>.

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English the Official Language

One Language, Under God

Authors Note: This essay is about why I think that English should be the official language of the USA.

Imagine, walking down a corridor, and there are people of all different races, speaking in their own tongue, and you can’t understand what they are saying. You get so confused that you just nod, and keep walking. This is one of the reasons why English should be the official language of the United States.

One reason why English should be the official language is because many people already speak in English that is really wouldn’t affect many people’s lives. Even though for the small percentage of people that would have to learn the new language it would be very easy to catch one as English is similar to many other languages.

To keep the ball rolling, another reason why English should be the official language of the USA is it would help people to communicate better. It would help people communicate better so one person isn’t trying to look up what the other is saying or so the people don’t have to have a translator tell them what they are saying.

To put the seal on the letter, the constitution was written by the founding fathers, in English, so if the territory wants to become a state or a person wants to become a citizen, they have to understand English, and understand what our founding fathers decided how this country should be run. So if our founding documents are written in English then if America is to have an official language it should be English.

As the great Theodore Roosevelt said “The ultimate way to bring this nation to ruin, or preventing all possibility of it continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities. We have but one flag; we must also learn one language, and that language is English.” I think that the American people and her governing body should lend an ear to Roosevelt.

"Big Yellow Taxi" and "Field Below"

Response to Poems

Authors Note: This piece is a response to the songs "Big Yellow Taxi", and "Field Below".

"Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell is about how the business' took over and created an economy, but didn't think twice about the environment. While "Field Below" by Regina Spektor is about how she is longing for the nature she grew up with but now lives in the big city an wants to go back to the way it was. Both poems are about how you don't know what you have until it is gone. Some ways you can see this is the great figurative language in these two poems. When in "Field Below" Regina Spektor says, "again the sun was never called" is an example of a metaphor and "darkness spreads over the snow" is an anaphora and "like ancient bruises" is a simile.

In "Big Yellow Taxi", and in "Field Below", both artists do a good job showing the mood and tone of the songs. In "Field Below" I think Regina Spektor is trying to have us feel sympathetic on why she can't go back to the way it was before the big city. I feel sorrow because she can't go back to the way it was unless she gives up everything. While in "Big Yellow Taxi", Joni Mitchell is trying to get us to do something about the environment, I felt sympathetic towards Joni Mitchell because she is distraught about the people came and "they paved paradise, and put up a parking lot." The music in both songs goes well with the lyrics, in Big Yellow Taxi, th be tune is more upbeat and in "Field Below" the tune is more slow.

Parody Poem

Parody Poem

By: Austin and Sam

I have seen
your glasses
that were on
your face

and which
you were probably
proud of
for them being so big

Forgive me
they were so big
oh so thick
and I couldn’t resist making fun of them.



This parody poem relates to the story because it shows how people in the South didn’t like the people in the North during this time. The speaker of this poem is the girl who made fun of Ricky’s glasses and how big they were. Ricky and Bobby are the audience of this poem. The tone is misunderstanding because Ricky thought that the girl was flirting with her when she was really making fun of him. The mood was sad because Ricky didn’t realize that the girl was making fun of him.

Mother to Son Response

Sam Queen
3/14/12
Life Ain’t No Crystal Stair
Authors Note: This response is analyzing the poem, Mother to Son by Langston Hughes.

In the poem Mother to Son Langston Hughes does a tremendous using figurative language to show that we should never give up. One use of figurative language that really stuck out was “life ain’t no crystal stair.” It shows that you can’t have life be handed to you on a silver platter. He is telling us that we need to work for a living not except everyone to break their back to help us do things that we could do on our own. This is important to now and back then because Langston Hughes was a part of the Harlem Renaissance and is telling the young people to never give up. This poem really was inspiring to me and made me realize that the people in Harlem at the time really needed to persevere if they were to have their voice be heard.

Retelling Piece (revised)

Jonas is the new Receiver, the highest honor in the community. He has to receive all the memories of feeling, and emotion, something the community doesn’t have. But Jonas soon comes to realize that the government is full of corruption and the way they are being oppressed is wrong.

Censorship

Sam Queen
3/9/12
Censorship is Everywhere
Authors Note: this piece is about how one of the main topics in The Giver is censorship in the form of a 5 paragraph essay.

Imagine, seeing things through a dogs eyes, no color, just black, white, and shades of gray. This is what the people in the Community live like. No emotions, or feeling, just the same. In The Giver by Lois Lowry, censorship is a big idea throughout the entire novel.

Censorship, as we all know, means to cover up or make someone believe something that isn’t true to protect them or to keep them from realizing. In The Giver the quote “they know nothing” really makes you think how these people live their lives not knowing joy, pain, frustration, and peace. Also, “they know nothing” really shows that the government is censoring the people to the evil things that they are doing like birth control, and regulating what people eat and do.

While censorship is a main topic in The Giver it is also a main idea in other novels like Fahrenheit 451. The people in this novel are censored to the malevolent deeds that the government is doing by burning one of the greatest things on this earth, books. Just like the people in The Giver, the people in Fahrenheit 451 are both censored by the government.

Even though censorship in fictional books is an important topic to discuss, it is also important in the real world. Censorship in the world is real and going on today, in our TV’s, radio programs, and internet sites, also in war, with censoring some information to protect certain military secrets. Censorship is in other countries like China where they can even talk about politics on the internet without that site being banned.

Censorship is an important topic throughout The Giver but more importantly a topic in life. Make sure you have a reason behind what you’re doing before you commit to it.

Epilouge

The Far Away Land…
Authors Note: This is a epilogue to the novel The Giver explaining my prediction in a 1-2 paragraph explanation.

“Hurry! Just a little farther,” Jonas shouted to the scout team that was only miles from Jonas’ hometown, The Community. ”Now when we get there, don’t be alarmed if you hear the screams of pain that the people will cry out from all the memories of the war, pain, and torture. Stay calm and help as many people as you can, give them the food in your packs, water if they need it, comfort them and try to remind them about all the other dreams of joy, peace, and prosperity. While you are doing that I will go to my old friend The Giver, and the Elders of the Community to discuss the immediate evacuation of the people.”
“But why Jonas, why do we have to help these people who have no emotions and feelings?” questioned, Rob, Jonas’ good friend.
“Why, because 5 years ago, The Giver and I came up with an idea to rebel against the government and to have me escape and release the memories that were transferred from The Giver to me and to have the people learn from the memories that what they are being forced to do is wrong and should change their ways.”

I think that Jonas will remember The Community and bring people to overthrow the government and have those people help The Community cope with all of the memories that the Giver and Jonas transferred. I think this because Jonas has a good heart and will remember how much that the Giver will struggle to keep the Community together.

Thank You Ma'am Essay

The Influential People in Our Lives
Authors Note: This essay is about how influential Mrs. Jones is on Rodger in the story Thank You Ma’am by Langston Hughes.

Roger, an adolescent between the ages of thirteen and fifteen, lives on the streets and pickpockets for a living. He sees his target, Mrs. Jones, but more specifically her purse, which hopefully had just enough for some blue suede shoes. We have all read a story similar to this, but Rodgers story is different. Mrs. Jones influences him in a way that changed his life forever. In the story, Thank You Ma’am by Langston Hughes, you discover that people can be a huge influence on you and how you treat the others around you.

To influence someone means to be able to affect the development, behavior, or character of someone or something. Mrs. Jones heavily influenced Rodger late one evening when Rodger just happened to make the mistake of trying to steal the purse of Mrs. Jones. Instead of acting like most people would have by either calling the police or chasing after him, she turns the whole situation around by making Rodger the victim and not her. People can be influenced physically, emotionally, or mentally by the things or people around them. In this scenario, Mrs. Jones influenced him mentally by putting in his mind that if he tries to steal or pickpocket again she will make sure that he is thrown into jail.

While being able to influence people is one thing, what you do with them should be looked upon as well. Mrs. Jones is very audacious, because she lets Rodger into her house, cleans him up and then makes him some cocoa and gives him some of her 10 cent cake. When Mrs. Jones says, "I was young once and I wanted things I could not get." Rodger realizes that Mrs. Jones is showing that she can connect to Rodger and that she is showing him that there are better more honest things than trying to get what you want by stealing.

In addition, what you do with the person you influenced and the direction you influence them is an important topic also. Some people would have stereotyped Rodger and just told him to get lost or call the cops. However, Mrs. Jones went out of her way to help this kid out who she had never even met. All the things she did, making him wash his face, cooking him food, and giving him the 10 dollars to buy some shoes were not her original plans for the evening. She astutely handled the situation by making sure that she influenced him onto a path where pick pocketing and thievery are nonexistent.

The way people influence you and the way you treat others is clearly seen in the short story, Thank You Ma’am, and like Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You can never really live anyone else's life, not even your child's. The influence you exert is through your own life, and what you've become yourself.”

They Know Nothing

“They Know Nothing”
Authors Note: This is a three paragraph essay about how the quote, “they know nothing,” has a big impact on the things in The Giver, from Jonas’ mindset to the plot of the book.

Imagine, just witnessing an abortion take place and your father brings the dead baby out from the curtain and acts like nothing happened. You’re furious and in your anger you realize that you can do nothing because that is how much the government has censored your people to the sick and vile things like abortion. In the book The Giver by Lois Lowry, there is a quote that really changes Jonas’ perspective on how the government has taken over and he realizes that something needs to be done.
Jonas’ life was changed when he saw his father murder a newborn child because the newborn was underweight. This is completely normal to them because the government has censored them to the feelings and emotions of this world. As Jonas watches his father commit murder, he shouts out in anger “they know nothing!” and is completely appalled at how people of his Community live their lives without any emotion. The quote really starts Jonas’ thoughts about rebellion and planted the seed in the Giver’s mind about making the people experience emotions and become a Community of feelings whether good or bad.
Jonas and The Giver are both very audacious people because each broke several regulations. Their goal was to convince the people that there is more to life than no feelings and getting spoon-fed from the government. For example, in The Giver, people were just getting by with the necessities and the same routine of receiving food every day, three times a day. As the great president Abraham Lincoln said, “We shall have a new birth of freedom -- and a government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Not the other way around.

Speech for The Giver

The Giver Speech

My book is The Giver. The Giver is about how one community goes from having feeling and emotion to having The Sameness. There is no emotion in Jonas’ life and then he is selected to become the Receiver. Jonas goes through many conflicts between himself and society. For self he is mad because he hates how the government censors the people from the terrible things that they don’t know their doing, like killing innocent children just because they are underweight ad things like that. Another conflict with society is Jonas and the Giver want to change the way their lives are run and they want the people to experience love, joy, and pain.

A World Full of the Sameness

Authors Note: This piece is about the different conflicts in the book the Giver.

Some major conflicts in the book the Giver were person vs. self, and person vs. society. One reason why it was person vs. self was that Jonas has a hard time grasping how the people live and work their lives with no feeling or emotion. Also because he cannot stand how the people get “released.” He hates how the people have no idea what they are doing and how cruel it is because the government has censored them form the truth. A reason why another conflict is person vs. society is because Jonas is mad about all the things the government has censored from the people that he wants to do something about it and is constantly begging the Giver to tell the committee to change their way in life so that people can enjoy the true meanings of feelings good and bad.

Thank You Ma'am

Authors Note: This piece is about the personal conflict between Rodger and him self in the story Thank You Ma'am by Langston Hughes.

An internal conflict that Rodger had was person vs. self. He was contemplating the whole time whether or not he was going to run away or stay and find out what Mrs. Jones was going to do. This shows a lot about Rodgers character because he had 3 chances to run away and never see her again and fit into the stereotype that people think he is a kid who will never get a job and live and die on the streets. I must have been a tough choice for Rodger with all the things that had happened to him in the past hour or two. He is probably scared out of his mind to not get on her bad side and he probably knew if he ran away he would always be on her bad side no matter how much good he did.

Dead Man's Path Piece

Sam Queen
1/19/12
What Comes Around…
Authors Note: This piece is about the main topic/ idea of the short story Dead Man’s Path.
I think that the main topic of Dead Man’s Path is “what you do comes back around whether you like it or not.” Because when Michael Obi the new headmaster in a small village with a crumbling school blocks off the entryway to the burial ground, which holds the village together, the people retaliate and show that they matter by tearing down the school and ripping up everything that Mr. Obi ever did for the school.
Because he blocked off the path to the burial ground by putting up barb wire and rolling in a log so it is virtually impossible to get to the burial ground they show that if he wants to play rough and dirty then they can to. So the tore down the school and crushed the rows off flower beds that his wife put up. And the priest even warned him when he said in their meeting, “this path was here before you were born and before your father was born. The whole life of this village depends on it. Our dead relatives depart by it and our ancestors visit us by it. But most important, it is the path of children coming in to be born…” (2nd page)