Yesterday was like any normal day, I would wake up go downstairs sit in front of the television and watch TV while I'm eating food.  But today was different my brother beat me to the TV. So what do I do? I can't just let my little bro do whatever he pleases. So I told him to give me the remote, he refuses. A brawl broke out. He tried to extend his arm as far as he can so I don't get the remote. His attempt fails. I proceed to take the remote from him and change the channel, but he retaliates. The brawl starts once again this time me extending my arm out of his reach. It works he can't get the remote, but instead of breaking out in another brawl for the remote, he just goes on the computer instead and things go right back to how they are supposed to be.   

Where to go with Cloning?

            Is cloning actually possible? What exactly does cloning do? Could we actually clone people? Those are a few of the questions that come to mind when people think of cloning. Also when people think of cloning they think of the movies where aliens are cloning each other to take over the earth but, are it actually possible to make an exact look alike of a human or animal? Through scientific discoveries it is actually possible.

            The movies are usually what make peoples impressions of cloning, but do we really know what cloning is? Defining cloning is pretty simple; it is creating an exact look alike organism of something else, making it exactly the same in every way, even its DNA. Around the world scientists in laboratories have successfully cloned different organisms; in the past scientists have cloned large and small animals. Some of those animals include cows, goats, pigs, rodents, sheep, and even house pets. By seeing how many different animals we have cloned people would wonder why we don’t clone humans. But there are more dangers to cloning than we ultimately thought to be.

            Throughout the world many experiments have been done that have given us many interesting statistics about cloning showing why attempting to clone humans would just not be safe. For example after being born many cloned animals don’t live nearly as long as the original animal due to an infection or problems. About 90 percent of cloning attempts don’t give a clone in perfect condition. Also some clones get a disease called large offspring syndrome, adding up that we haven’t done enough safe, successful experimenting, leads us to not take on the task of trying to clone a human at this point in time. 

            Cloning people does not seem to be in the question right now but scientists have been working on possibly a very interesting yet controversial project. Recently scientists have found well preserved remains of mammoths in the tundra of Russia, also they have the DNA. Scientists have had the plan to possibly clone a mammoth and bring it back to life after 50,000 years of extinction. Many people though do not like the idea of cloning an animal that has been extinct for that long. The possibility is still there but a lot of people believe that if we have a hard time protecting the animals we have on earth now, we shouldn’t try to resurrect a mammoth that has been dead for thousands of years.

            Scientist have continued their experimenting with cloning and have cloned quite a few animals but there are still a lot of questions yet to answer. In time will the government try to clone humans?  We don’t know yet but in time a lot of these questions will probably be answered.

The Lottery

The short story of the ‘lottery’ by Shirley Jackson is an unusual story about government control, and fear. The story really makes you think a bit because of its confusing meaning and such.

            Through the story the reader gets the idea that the lottery is a good thing to win, but by the end of the story that the winning the lotto is defiantly not good. One theme in this story is government control. The reason for this is because the government the whole story had control over the people. They forced people to do things in the story, for example towards the end of the story this woman wins the lottery and everyone needs to simultaneously stone her. Even her best friend goes against her better judgment and stones her too, with a big rock. That shows that even if you are best friends with someone the government is still going to be in control.

            Another one of the themes in this story is fear. For example in the story nobody wants to be the pick for the lottery. They are afraid that they will be picked and they will be stoned to death. There seems to be even though it is not written, a sigh of relief when a family knows that they were not picked and none of the family is going to be stoned. But for the family does get picked the only thing that probably goes through their minds is fear, fear of being picked, and also fear of a family member they love being picked.

            Tradition is a theme that also plays out in this story. The lottery had been taking place for quite a while, and despite being afraid of it people still participate in it every year probably out of the control the government has. The people don’t like doing the lottery, but it was a tradition it had been taking place for a long time and nobody tried to stop it. The winner of the lottery every year would be stoned and killed by strangers and the people they care about. Those are just a couple themes in the story of the ‘lottery’ by Shirley Jackson.

Where the Red Fern Grows Cause and Affect

                         Where the Red Fern Grows Cause and Affect Authors Note: I am writing this to show the cause and affects in the story of ‘Where the Red Fern Grows’ by Wilson Rawls.

              The story of Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls is about a young boy who had really wanted coon (raccoon) hunting dogs for a very long time. Because of his obsession for wanting coon hunting dogs, there are a lot of cause and affects in this story.
                             The story takes place in the early 1900’s in the southeast of the United States. The main character in this stories name is Billy. Billy is a young boy whose family lives in the mountains, pretty far away from a good education. He had always loved coon hounds, and when an ad in a magazine presents him with an opportunity to get his hounds he takes it. One of the causes in this story is him wanting coon hounds, and the affect is him working really hard for two years to get his hounds.
                     After two years of hard working, he had saved his money for his dogs he ends up with two small coon hunting pups. His grandpa had been telling him for a long time once he got his dogs to teach them how to catch coons. The cause is his grandfather telling him to teach his dogs how to hunt. The effect is that he does end up teaching his dogs how to hunt and ultimately gets him a reputation for being one of the best coon hunters in the area and eventually earns his family a lot of money for a contest he wins.
                      Towards the end of the story he enters his dogs in a contest for hunting coons and ends up winning the whole thing including the prize money that the other hunters had put together. Despite winning the contest and the prize money that had came with he decided that he wanted to continue to hunt coons with his hounds. That is the cause. The unfortunate effect in this story is that on a hunting trip he had encountered a mountain lion that tried to attack him, but his dogs saved his life by giving theirs. The book ends when a red fern grows on the graves of his dogs that he had loved so long.
                    The book where the red fern grows is a good but sad book that is about the close friendship that he had with the dogs he loved a lot. There were a lot of cause’s and affects in this story that were good and bad. In the end Billy ends up with great memories of the dogs he loved and the tragic end where his dogs gave everything they had including their lives to save him.

Song vs. Poem

Authors Note: I am writing this as a response of the poem and the song of Big Yellow Taxi

The poem/ song of big yellow taxi are a sad poem about not taking anything for granted because you don’t really know what you have till it’s gone. The poems tone is pretty sad or disappointment. The song of the big yellow taxi is a generally upbeat song. I think that the authors for the poems are to never take anything for granted because you never know what might happen. The music for the poem and the poem itself are very different. The song is upbeat and the poem is kind of sad and depressing. The mood in the music is defiantly different than in the poem. The difference in the poem and the song can tell us that some people can interrupt it differently than other people.

How free were the Blacks?

The topic of the civil war was slavery. Many people died fighting for what they believed in… Weather slaves should or shouldn’t be slaves. We all know how it ended up though, the north won and slavery ended. But did slavery completely end? I believe that slavery was and wasn’t over at the same time.

The civil war was a war fighting for the freedom of blacks. However even after the north won the war the blacks were still not allowed to do all the things that white people could do. For example even after the war blacks could not run in a governmental position. They could not be a legislator or a judge or anything of that kind. The men however under some circumstances could be in the jury, but not women.

Socially blacks were not treated nearly as equal as white people. Most eateries would not allow blacks to eat there. Very many people even after the war still believed that blacks were not as equal as us. In 1860 just about 14 percent of the U.S. population was black.

Economically blacks also had a decently rough time. They were allowed to have jobs however they usually didn’t get a really great job compared to the jobs that the white people had. Because of the lack of jobs that blacks were able to have, some blacks even thought that they were better off being slaves the way that they were still being treated.

In conclusion the blacks were free after the civil war, however even thought they were free they weren’t able to do everything that whites were able to do. It was a long time later when blacks were completely treated like whites are treated.

I always win

Authors Note: This is a parody based off the novel Heroes Don't Run. The speaker is the main character Adam writing to his mother. This parody was done by Sean Beecher and A.J. Wiesman


I have joined the war in the south pacific. Will you forgive more for what I have done? I have made the right decision and I’m overjoyed that I joined.

It relates to the novel because he wanted to go to the war but his mom did not approve but he still felt good about serving his country. The main character Adam is speaking to his mother who is speaking to the audience. The tone in the beginning is sarcastic. It makes the reader think at first that he is asking for forgiveness and at the end the reader sees the sarcasm and takes it in as humor.

Mother to Son Figurative Language

There are quite a few of examples of figurative language in the poem of Mother to Son by Langston Hughes. One example could be in the second line where the mom says “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. I believe that example of figurative language is that she is saying that her life has not been very amazing like a crystal stair. She says her life has tacks and splinters in it but she keeps on climbing. I believe that she is saying that her life isn’t going to be perfect but through whatever troubles she goes through she is going to keep climbing on. I believe that the tone in this story is frustration and in a way motivating. The reason why I believe that this a motivating is because she is trying to tell her son that life is not always going to be a walk in the park, the will be problems, but you just have to keep moving on.

Describing Adam

Authors Note: This short description is about the main character Adam and what part he plays in the story.

There are many words to convey the seventeen year old main character Adam in the story of Hero’s Don’t Run. If you ask his family they will tell you that he is a tall, strong boy, very kind. But you might also hear that he arrogant. Like most teenagers he believes that he is invincible, that nothing can hurt him.
In his family between his sister and him, he is the oldest. His father had died during the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War 2. To his family he is pretty much the man in his house. Like his dad he wants to join the military to fight in the war. His mom and grandpa strongly advise him to not join the war but he ends up persuading his grandpa to sign him up. Adam signing up to fight in the war is a big event in the story. He is not as afraid of the war as he should be. However throughout the book his opinion does change on the war. Towards the middle of the book he starts to notice that he is not invincible and that fighting in the war was a much bigger decision than he thought it out to be. The war shapes him to be more of a man than he was in the beginning of the story.

Letter to Bud

Bud, My name is Sean I am 14 years old and I have heard your story. It is very inspiring! I had a couple of questions to ask you about your experiences. I am very intrigued that you ran away from your foster home, and you were only ten at the time! What were some of the thoughts that were going through your mind as you were deciding to run away or not? Were you at all afraid that the Amoses would catch you? I would have been. I was also wondering, when Mr. Lewis picked you up, other than the blood in the containers why did you conclude that he was a vampire so quickly?
Throughout your story I heard of the tips you had made. I believe the tips you made for people were called, “Rules and Things”. How many rules do you have to living a better life? I was also wondering how long it took you to write all the rules. I was very impressed of your bravery at your age! You did not really show that you were afraid that much during your journey, even when you woke up in a bed surrounded by a bunch of people you didn’t even know. I hope you have enjoyed this letter.

The Importance of Having a Good Family “Bud not Buddy”

Authors Note: I am writing this to show how Bud not Buddy is a good example of why having a good family is important.

Do you think that you have a really strong relationship with your family? How much time do you spend with your family? In the story of Bud not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis is shows the importance of having a good caring family. It shows that having a family to back you up is very important.

The importance of a family is very big in a kid’s life. In the story of Bud not Buddy it’s about a ten year old boy who is does not have a family and is lost. He ends up being put in a foster home with a family that does not care for him. He does not have people that care about him. He doesn’t know his dad, and he has not seen his mom in years. He is a really lost because of not having a good family.

The result of not having a family could end up really bad. For a kid if they don’t have a family they could end up going down a very bad path, but without a family there is nobody to drag back on the right path. Without any guidance a kid could have a future of trouble. In the story of Bud not Buddy he did not have a real family, he had a foster family. His foster family was not good to him at all. He decides to run away from his foster family. If he had a real family, one that cared about him he wouldn’t of run away because he would have been around people that actually cared about him. He runs away to try to find his real dad. His foster family did not care that he ran away.
He goes off to try to find his dad and on the way he runs into a man by the name of Mr. Lewis. Mr. Lewis treats him very well. He gives him food and gives him a bed to sleep in. Mr. Lewis knows Buds father so he decided to try to find Buds dad, so Bud could finally be reunited with his dad.

Mr. Lewis is a good example for Bud. He tells him the things that he should do and what he shouldn’t do. He treated Bud like his son. This was very important for Bud. Mr. Lewis does end up taking Bud to his dad. Things between Bud and his dad were a bit shaky at first but at the end things got better. If Bud did not run into Mr. Lewis, who knows where Bud could have ended up, it was very good thing that Bud ran into Mr. Lewis. The story of Bud not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis is a really good example of a story that shows the importance of a family. It is very important

Quote from the story of Bud not Buddy

Authors Note: I am writing this piece to explain the quote from Bud not Buddy.

“If an adult tells you not to worry, and you weren’t worried before, you’d better start worrying cause you’re running’ late.” That is the quote that is that Bud uses as one of his rules to having a better life.
I believe that this quote means that if an adult tells you not to be worried, and you weren’t worried in the first place there must be something wrong. The reason for this is that, why would an adult tell you not to be worried about something that you weren’t worried about before? That would mean that there must be something seriously wrong.
In the story Bud’s mom tells him not to worry about anything. Bud wasn’t worried at all, that is until his mom said that because he wasn’t worried before. He made a good point in saying there must be something wrong if someone says that. In real life this good is a good small tip for someone who’s had a parent or an adult tell them that.

Speech

For my group I did the conflict in the story of Bud not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. Bud not Buddy is about a 12 year old boy named Bud growing up during the great depression. He does not have any real family and he is sent to go to a foster home. The foster families name is the Amoses. The conflict in this story is that the foster family that takes Bud in is not that nice to him at all. Most of the problems come from the Amoses son Todd. Todd pretty much got Bud in trouble for things he didn’t do, but his parents believed Todd not Bud. Another big conflict is when Bud decides that he does not want to deal with the Amoses so he runs away; he went off to try to find his dad.

Thank You Ma'am

Authors Note: I am writing this to explain how the woman treated Roger and how the boy reacted.

Have you ever helped someone that didn’t deserve your help? Have you ever wanted a stranger to have the utmost trust in you even though you really don’t know them? In the story of Thank You Ma’am by Langston Hughes, both happened.
The story starts off with an older woman walking down a street at around 11 o’clock when she gets an unexpected surprise. A teenage boy came out of nowhere and tried to take her purse. However the purse strap broke and he had nowhere to go. The woman grabs him and starts to scold him about what he was doing. He was absolutely terrified of her. In the moment she was actually treating him better than most people probably would have just because she didn’t call the police on him like most people would. She notices his face is really dirty so she insists on brining him to her house to get cleaned up, although him being in a chokehold he did not have much of a choice.
In this point of the story you can tell that the woman has some compassion for this kid and wants to help him. She acts very different than a crazy old lady that was your first impression in the beginning. I believe that the author put some symbolism in her wanting to clean his face. I believe her trying to clean his face of the dirt is her trying to change him as a person and “clean” him. When they got to her house there were people in other rooms with their doors open. She tried to show compassion towards this kid. She let him cleaned his face. Not only that but she also offered him food. He accepted. During this event the door to the woman’s house was wide open. The boy could have run if he wanted to but instead he stayed. The woman acted really nice to him, not asking any embarrassing questions and nothing that would make him uncomfortable. They find out each other’s names. The boys name is Roger, and the woman’s name is Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. The woman asks him why Roger tried to take money from her, and his response was that he wanted to buy a new pair of shoes. This is where you can understand how nice this woman was and how much she wanted to help this boy.
She gave Roger ten dollars to buy a new pair of shoes. Roger was just shocked but he accepted the money. By now the woman has almost if not have changed Roger to be a completely different person. At the end she showed him to the door and told him to be good and said goodnight. The boy could barely say thank you before the door closed. The woman changed Roger completely by the end of the story, and because of her I believe he is walking on a new path.