Sunday, March 9, 2014

Non-Fiction Reading Response

   The article "Fair or Outrageous? New Jersey Teen Sues Her Parents to Pay for College" by Kelly Wallace of CNN is about a 18 year old girl named Rachel Canning who attends a private high school in Lincoln Park, New Jersey. Rachel sued her parents for her current high school tuition and access to her college fund. Her parents stopped paying her high school tuition when she ran away from home and went to live at a friend's house. Rachel's parents, Sean and Elizabeth Canning claimed that Rachel ran away because she disagreed with their household rules. Rachel claims that her parents kicked her out of the house on her eighteenth birthday. Most of the commenter's in the article disagreed with Rachel because of the disrespect and lack of appreciation Rachel showed toward her parents.. A New Jersey State Superior Court judge ruled that Rachel's parents were not obligated to pay her high school tuition.
   
    The author wants the reader to know that Rachel Canning thinks she is entitled to high school tuition and access to her  college fund simply because they are her parents. One commenter in the article, Dorothy Lui stated, "As parents, most of us try to do the best we can and hope we can instill enough good common sense and humility in our kids so they may make good decisions, " Kelly Wallace seems to agree with Rachel's parents and the other comments in the article.

     Based on what Rachel presented, I agree with the author, the comments and Rachel's parents. It is ridiculous  that you would sue your parents for money after they raised you and spent money on you for more than eighteen years. It was Rachel's decision to leave her house. If Rachel does not want to follow her parents rules and wants to be a grown up, then she should pay for her own high school and college tuition. I agree with Kelly Wallace, the comments and Rachel's parents. Just because your parents brought you into this world, does not automatically make you entitled to their money.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

"Why" a poem by Dakota Swann

Aren't there times when we ask why?
Why do I have to do this?
Or why do I have to do that?
Some of our why's are smart
And some are just plain dumb.
But why's such as
War and Violence
Cheating and bullying
You just ask why. But sometimes asking why can get you in trouble
SO it's better not to ask why
All the time.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Independent Reading Response

The book "The Book Thief" By Markus Zusak is an historical fiction novel that takes place in Germany during  The Holocaust. The main character Liesel is a quiet girl who has to deal with living with her foster Parents The Hubermanns. I believe that Liesel loves her foster father more than her foster mother.
          Liesel's relationship with her foster mother is unstable. Her foster mother Rosa Hubermann , calls Liesel a Saumensch. Which means filthy pig in German. The first time that Rosa called Liesel this was after Liesel refused to take a shower because she felt uncomfortable. Ever since that day Rosa has called Liesel a filthy pig about ten times a day. Rosa is also inconsiderate of Liesel's feelings. Rosa makes her clean saliva off of the house  door after a neighbor spit on it. Finally, Rosa is a laundress and she demands Liesel to help her deliver laundry to her customers. Liesel does not like this job.
          Liesel's foster father, Hans Huberman, is very comforting to Liesel. Hans defends her against her foster mother. He comes into Liesel's room every night when she has a nightmare. He sits with her until she falls asleep. Then one night after Liesel wet the bed , Hans found a book while he was changing the sheets. Liesel told Hans that she did not know how to read. Then he decided to have lessons with her every night when she woke up from a nightmare.

          In conclusion what I have written helps me prove that Liesel loves her foster father more than her foster mother. If I were Liesel  I would feel the same way.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Non-Fiction Reading Response

This article “Growing Number of Parents Turn to Police to Report Cyber Bullying” published on January 18, 2014 is about parents. The parents are reporting to the police when their child is getting cyber bullied. When a person is being cyber bullied that means that they are getting teased on the internet with text or pictures. The author explains how kids may be affected. This comes to the main idea of the article about the parents getting involved with the bullying. The parents of the children ether report to the police or their child’s guidance counselor in their school. But some people don’t turn to school officials because they feel that they think they cannot do anything about the situation.

                The author wants you to feel the need to report when you or someone else is getting cyber bullied. Cyber bulling is not a good thing. It needs to be reported because cyber bullying may lead kids to commit suicide. The author wanted us to know that parents are involved with their children’s internet life. He wants us to know that people are willing to help someone who is a victim of this form of bullying. He is sending a message that people are watching and that they can help you to solve this issue. In the article it states “As more people become aware of the harmful consequences of cyber bullying, parents are more likely to report cyber bullying incidents directly to their local police than local school officials.” This is the main idea of the article that explains what the author is going to explain  why the parents turn to the police to report this bullying.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Drugs are powerful elements that affect your brain and also your actions. But when you do drugs it is so addictive that you will do anything from Prostitution to stealing to get what you need to relieve your headache. Well, the main character Kristina in the book Crank by Ellen Hopkins is going through these very issues with the drug Crank or heroine that she is sniffing. Kristina is stealing money and also doing things she should not be doing to make money. Money figures in the book because it Kristina needs it to supply drugs for her mental needs. One reason why money figures in the text is because she is using it to get her drugs. This quote says “you fly until you crash two days two nights no sleep, no food, come down off the monster YOU CRASH REAL HARD” .That means that you can really get addicted to it and it would make you want to have more all the time and that is not good for her help or pocket. It is bad for her pocket because these drugs aren’t cheap. Another reason why money figures in this story is because she is stealing from her mother to get money. In the story her mother’s credit card came in the mail. One letter the credit card came in the other she saw the pin number. So this gave her more money. Kristina saw it when she was looking for her report card because she has been slacking off in school and does not want her parents to know. But when she found that she used the money for crank. This is because her mother restricted Kristina’s access to her own account. SO this I bad because the craving is so high that she will become a criminal in order to get what she thinks what she needs. But she is also borrowing money from boyfriends and also friends. In conclusion Kristina’s money figures in the text because she needs to pay for her drugs. She does not have any self-control or anything. She will steal and do other things to get what she wants. Would you make yourself a criminal just because of an addiction that you have?

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Dakota Swann                                                                                                             8th grade
The Call of the Wild
by Jack London
            The book The Call of the Wild  is about a  Saint Bernard and Scotch shepherd mix named Buck in the year of 1867 . Buck was a heavy weight good structured dog that could survive in the Artic. In the beginning of the book Buck lived with a family named the Millers. He is there because his father was owned by the Millers also. The Millers were great owners to Buck. They lived in a place called Santa Clara. Buck loved it there because of the sun. He especially loved the Miller daughters Mollie and Alice. But one day he was sold because of his owner Judge Miller. Judge Miller played a game called Chinese lottery. So when he lost the game, Buck was sold to  very despicable men named Manuel and another person whose name was not mentioned . They extremely cruel to Buck and eventually got tired of him. So the men sold him to two men named Francois and Perrault.
            Buck was taken to Dyea beach. Buck was going to be a part of pulling a sled with a few other dogs. The dogs pulled a sleigh for the two men to travel to places to make money or sell things. But when he got there a dog named Curly was killed in a fight.  When the two men and all the dogs rode up to the city of Canon, there were problems waiting for Buck. Buck was bigger than the other dogs  and did not get enough food to fill him up. With this situation he had to kill his first prey to survive. Buck felt that he let his domestic side go and that he was becoming an wild animal. While on this trip Buck made an enemy who was one of the dogs that pulled the sled with him. Then when they were about a hundred miles away from the city named Dawson a big fight started with the dogs and many were wounded. Then in Dawson, Buck had a fight with the toughest dog (his enemy) in the camp and won. But when they started to go back home Buck started to get home sick. After Dawson, the drivers began to get really tired and hungry because they put the dogs before them all the time. But then the dogs were given to Two men named Hal and Charles. Charles had a wife named Mercedes who was very annoying to Hal. But on the way to Dawson, They stopped at a camp that a man named John Thornton owned. But there at the camp Buck was really tired. So he sat down and did not get up even if Hal lashed him. Then Hal started to beat Buck with a club and then that is when John went into the action. John told him to stop or he would kill Hal himself. Then after that, John took Buck for himself.
             Buck loved John to all his might. Buck would do anything that John wanted him to do. Even though Buck was under weight and unhealthy from his past owners. John loved Buck as much as Buck loved him. He would always break out in tears when Buck did something that he appreciated. So when John and Buck went to town random people were asking how much Buck is worth so they could buy him. They thought he was a great dog that could help them to do heavy lifting. But John would not give him up. John broke out in tears to show how much he loved Buck.

             Then John and his two partners Pete and Hans planned a trip to get some gold. But where the gold is no one has come back alive. So on the trip there, Buck was the leader and loved what he did. Then after miles of running they found the place where the gold was. The men did all the work while the dogs did nothing. So Buck wandered off for periods of time and made a friend. His friend was a wolf. They met up with each other a lot to play and to hang out. Buck so them as brothers and not friends. He felt that he was also a wolf and not just a dog. As Buck was out for periods of time he began to kill his prey to eat. He loved to kill his prey because it made him seem more like a wolf. But one day But another dog from his camp was free and he did not understand. So Buck followed the dog and found that one of John's dogs were killed with arrows in his back. But then the dogs started to kill the enemy by biting their throats. Buck killed the leader and other men with the other dog that John had recently brought. Then after they found out that John was dead they went out on their own. They lived by themselves letting out their wolf side that has been in there for years.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Dakota Swann                                                                                                                         808
Banned Books
Argument Essay
           

One reason why the book should not be limited is because some teenagers  may relate to what the main Character Hazel is going through as a teenager with cancer. The article “Darkness Too Visible” states “Reading about another teen in the same traits will be comforting.” This quote explains that the kid may feel that they are not alone and other teenagers are going through what they are going through. This could be good for the reader’s feelings or their emotions. Also you don’t have to be mature enough to read about someone’s feelings and emotions.
Another reason why the book should not be limited is because the book teaches a life lesson that the readers may need later in life. The article “The Banned Books We’ve Loved” states that “The books that we want to ban teach us the most valuable lessons.” So if we ban these books we are banning the life lessons that the kids want to learn. And we want teenagers to learn lessons. We can’t ban these books because of one sexual reference  which is not the overall point to the story.
Many may argue that the book should be ban because one chapter in the book has one part that has a sexual reference. The book  contains that sexual part but it is not detailed enough for the reader to really picture the whole scene clearly. The sexual part is only one page and a half. It explains when Augustus took off his leg and Hazel asking him questions about it and it fast forward so that we don’t have to hear the real sexual parts.
In conclusion the book “The Fault of Our Stars” should not be limited because it may let kids or teenagers relate to the story and the book can teach the reader a life lesson. It can also teach people about the life of a kid or teenager with cancer. Some people should think twice before thinking about banning a book that many people love.