Something Interesting

Something I found interesting recently was a singing parrot. I was scrolling around Snapchat and found the video. It was a parrot singing Chandelier by Sia. This video had to be one of the funniest videos I have ever seen! 

Immigrants In Our Own Land Analysis

a. Jessica Parra's blog entry about the poem is honest and talks about the reality behind the poem. She gives good examples on how the theme is "expectations vs. reality". Jessica also gives good details on her belief of what the main image is, which in her eyes is comparing immigrants coming to a new land with the immigrants entering a prison.
b. My answers to the questions compare to Jessica's because I believe the theme is false promises. I would say this is the theme that compares to Jessica's because she believes the theme is "expectation vs. reality" and false promises are the immigrants have their own fantasies about the new land providing new opportunities, but then reality hits them. The promises made by America were false and now immigrants have to face the consequences. The tone is very emotional because the detail it gives about how the character is feeling can really connect to you. You can feel how disappointed Jimmy Santiago is just by paying attention to the adjectives and details given. The mood is very sympathetic because you feel bad for the immigrants facing these problems because they didn't know what else to do. Some devices include metaphors such as the line "like scholars use glasses and books to reach the world" or a hyperbole such as "The doctors don't care, our bodies decay, our minds deteriorate, we earn nothing of value".
c. I would have to change my mind about the theme "false promises" to 'deceit" because the immigrants were deceived. They were all told lies by the people in America. They were all told something else when the people in the new land new exactly hat they were doing.

My Mad Dream of An Essay

Remember that time you ate that spicy burger just before you went to bed on the night before the big Halloween party. Oh, that weird dream you had about the 2016 presidential election. When you woke up you couldn't quite remember the gory details, but after reading "On Self-Reliance" and "A Sound of Thunder" it's all coming back to you now.

The dream started badly. You were in line with your family at Walmart waiting to be sent to the library. Everywhere you looked there were posters of president-elect Waddle, looking like a crazy cheetah who could eat a whole chair.

 Suddenly, there was Ralph Waldo Emerson telling you, "Greatness appeals to the future". You realized that you have something to contribute to the world so you decided to fight. But it wasn't easy. First you had to put on a fancy dress and hat and then you had to make a monkey go back in time to the mall so you could convince people to learn about the candidates and the deportation of immigrants.

But right there in the mall there was a giant bear and it started shouting at everyone. People started to cry. You grabbed a ball from a nearby shop and yelled "we have the power to be the bigger person". Everyone stopped and listened, so you kept going.

We as the next generation will change the world. Whether or not you believe so, we will do it. If you choose not to do your work, so be it. If you choose to make bad choices, so be it. Responsibility is inevitable and if we make the choice of facing responsibility now, determines our future. Even making that small decision of ditching a party to do a homework assignment shapes our future decisions. One experience I have had with this is I wrote an essay the day before it was due because I procrastinated. I sacrificed quality time with my family to do it and now I now that I have to make the right choices of doing my work beforehand so I can have fun. "On Self-Reliance" uses the example in hid first quote "Our acts our angels are, or good or ill, Our fatal shadows that walk by us still." This quote shows an example of the choices we make because it says that they can be good or bad, but it's really up to us. "A Sound of Thunder" shows a classic example of the choices we make now influence our future. With Eckels making the mistake of going off the path and literally changing the future, but not for good. It's up to us to make things better in the future by making he right choices now.

Emerson's Child

         Yourself can be a hard word to describe. Emerson's definition of "yourself" may be as subtle as "someone who believes they can do whatever they want to do" or something a little more complex such as "a person who shows who they really are because they aren't following in the footsteps of another person". Whatever Emerson's definition of "yourself" is, I'm sure it has meaning. Whenever others aren't looking, I am genuinely my true self. If people don't like the real me, I miss the part where that's my problem. I make fun of people who are fake, I cant say it is a good thing, but I do it anyway.
         I am just as crazy, and funny and weird as my friends think I am and I couldn't think of myself as anyone else. I feel as though the people who have a lot of friends or who are "popular" don't have friends that really care about the real them, they only hang out with the fake them. Behind closed doors I am still the same Jordan as you see at school, but I have to say I don't really associate myself with the "popular" people because their definition of "fun" is a little different from mine.
         My true nature is a fun, weird and enthusiastic person. Although I am occasionally serious, it usually has to do with my schoolwork. If I am going to have friends, the nature of my personality remains the same because if I am not myself then I am not happy. I have to say I have the ability to be a huge bully, but I choose to remain the good person I am. What I think about others is I hate it when people try to be someone they're not. I can't help making fun of someone if I have seen the real side of them but have also experienced their fake side. I get irritated if someone I know tries to be different because I know deep down they aren't really happy with who they are because they are hiding their true selves, The only reason you would be someone you are not is because you aren't happy with yourself and you are afraid of being rejected if you do show your true self.
         What I really want is for people to be who they really are. Being in high school, I have more anger on my shoulders than I should carry because of the people I see everyday, but it's not up to me to tell them who to be. I want people to be true to themselves and show their friends who they really are. If people weren't so afraid of rejection and judgment, society would be a much better place. I feel like it is the responsibility of others who are true to themselves to teach others to be who they want to be and not to follow in someone else's footsteps. The reason I say "teach" instead of "tell" is because it's going to take time for people to accept that change.
           Emerson's wisdom makes great points about society. High school is an obstacle everybody faces in their life, unfortunately some people choose to avoid it by dropping out. Even though I do still try to dress like the "trends" you cant help it because it is a part of life, it's how we evolve. I don't wear skinny jeans or Jordan's because other people do. I wear them because I like them and that is what Emerson is trying to say. Emerson tries to say to do what you want, but not for others. but for yourself and I can connect with that. To get along with others they have to like me for who I am and if they don't I usually avoid them because 95% of the time they are very annoying. I cant say everybody likes me, but I know who my real friends are if I can text one friend for a pen and have the whole group show up just to make sure I get one.

           
         

Team Vocab

This presidential election has transformed into a battle, with venomous attacks from both aggravating parties. Hillary has remained stolid, and I personally want to punch Trump in the proboscis. His supporters have slowly dissolved and the ones who have remained are hypnotized into believing America will be great again. This is a melancholy moment in American history because soon one of these candidates will be president. I earnestly believe that neither candidate should be eligible for office.

Literature Analysis #2

1. The book I am reading is the Death Cure. The Death Cure is the third book to the Maze Runner series and it is the final trial. The plot of the novel is about a boy named Thomas who is fighting back against a company named WICKED. If you don't what WICKED is it stands for World Catastrophe Killzone Department and their main goal is to find a cure for the Flare (mind altering disease) using immunes and placing them in trials. These trials then create variables which allow WICKED to form a blueprint for the cure.. In the first two books The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials, they were two trials that Thomas and other main characters had to face forced upon them by WICKED. This book is based on Thomas and his friends escape from WICKED and their journey into the city where they face the threat of the Flare and have to remain in hiding until they figure out what they can do to fight back. During the Death Cure, Thomas and his friends were faced with the choice of getting their memories back. While others decided to get their memories back, Thomas and his friends Minho and Newt chose not to. With this decision they unexpectedly escaped WICKED headquarters and journey with their new friends Brenda and Jorge to the city of Denver. The journey to Denver led them to realize a horrible truth about their friend Newt, but there was nothing they could do about it. In the city, they encounter their former friend Gally who tries to recruit them into the Right Arm, a group dedicated to taking WICKED down.

2. I would have to say the theme of the novel is horror. I could also sat the theme is death since it seems to be occurring so often. Throughout the story we see the devastating loss of a friend and the madness of others as they are infected with the Flare. I would say horror because the way the book describes what the Flare does to people calling them Cranks and that when they reach the final stage they being going crazy and mad with hunger for human flesh, kind of like zombies.

3. I can see James Dashner as the author who loves gore and reads graphic novels in his spare time. He sleeps late, gets up to exercise, then walks around the city with no worries, wanders into comic book stores or places like Hot Topic. His morning would consist of coffee all day because t is his favorite drink.

Vocab #5

1. venomous- of a person or their behavior full of malice or spite
     1. The girl had a venomous personality as she was always out to bully someone.
2. stolid-of a person calm, dependable, and showing little emotion or animation
     2. I consider a stolid person a sociopath because in my opinion, it's very weird
3. hypnotized-produce a state or hypnosis in someone
     3. People are hypnotized so they can be controlled.
4. suspended-temporarily prevent from continuing or being in force or effect
     4. A student can get suspended for things such as fighting bringing a concealed weapon to school.
5. transformed-make a thorough or dramatic change in the form, appearance, or character of
     5. A caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly after being releases from its cocoon.
6. accuse-charge someone with offense or crime
     6. My sisters like to accuse me of everything so I am the one who gets in trouble.
7. anticipate-regard as probable; expect or predict
     7. I had to anticipate that my sister would be moving out of the house and going to college
8. fringe-an ornamental border of threads left loose or formed into tassels or twists, used to edge clothing or material
     8. There was a fringe on my blanket that fell apart after my dog chewed on it.
9. melancholy-a feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause
     9 Sometimes a just feel really melancholy so I will have a Nicholas Sparks movie marathon.
10. earnestly-showing sincere and intense conviction
     10. People in movies usually hold on to an object earnestly when they are under pressure.
11. dissolve- with reference to a solid become or cause to become incorporated into a liquid as to form a solution
     11. Powder dissolves in water because it is soluble.
12. aggravate-make a problem, injury or offense worse or more serious
     12. My sister aggravates me a lot after I get hurt because she thinks it is funny.
13. illuminate-light up
     13. The lava lamp illuminates the room when it is turned on at night.
14. capillary-any of the fine branching blood vessels that form a network between the arterioles and venules
     14. The capillary broke after the man was cut across the arm.
15. proboscis-the nose of a mammal
     15. My friend has a proboscis.