Reflection

Over the course of middle school I have grown greatly as a writer. When I went to my first class Language Arts class in seventh grade with Mr. Graf, I didn't even know how to write a five paragraph essay. After seventh grade I was writing proficient and advanced persuasive essays, reflective essays and creative pieces that were reaching lengths of 3 to 4 pages. Over the summer before eighth grade, I managed to loose most of my writing skills due to my lack of motivation to write while school wasn't in session. When school began again I was lost; it all seemed familiar yet all seemed so different. It took me the first few months of school to get the quality of my writing back up, then I was fine the rest of the year.

Gretchen's point of veiw...

A new house, another school, once again we've moved hundreds of miles from our last home. At school I've learned to get "friends" as soon as possible so I'm not the outcast ever again. I hope that I'll be able to find an actual friend some day. The other day I had a track meet at my new school, I lost to some girl named Sqeaky. She seemed like she would be a good friend to have, to bad I I'm already moving out again.

Stupid Cookies

The box in the back, eat me.

I can't.

You will, you want me, and my chocolate chunks.

Never.

You're hungry, just one...

Nope.

If you don't, no one will.

I know.

I've saved the best one, just for you.

Fine.

Equal World

Complete equality; a good idea, as it may seem, but as a matter of fact our society is much better off with our unequal traits. We need smarter people and we, believe it or not, do need the less intelligent ones. Without those needing education, many teachers and professors would be out of work. Our government would be in less control, we wouldn't do much problem solving, and we would be limiting our youth to making big, much needed changes in the future. Eventually sending our society in a free fall and hitting rock bottom.

In the short story "Harrison Bergeron", Kurt Vonnegut Jr. realizes these many problems in a seemingly flawless plan for complete equality. One point he recognizes, which is more of an imaginary concept, but could possibly happen in this way of life, is the earpiece George is forced to wear, throwing off his advanced thought process, and limiting him to the amount and quality of thinking he can do. Another concept he realized is the rebellion of Harrison. This realization is probably the most important one; symbolizing that our youth is strong and that the human spirit cannot be crushed. Yet, because of the handicapping limitations in the story, we would be ruining the future of our society and government.

One very similar story to "Harrison Bergeron" is "The Adjustment Bureau". As you may have seen from commercials on t.v. or advertisements in the newspaper, "The Adjustment Bureau" is about a group of people who try and control your life through tiny adjustments they make your decisions and actions, this slowly places you where they want you to end up. Although "The Adjustment Bureau" doesn't want full equality from person to person, it closely relates to the government's earpiece in "Harrison Bergeron". Though two very different styles, both "The Adjustment Bureau" and the earpiece have somewhat of a control over your life.

An equal world is not as promising as it may seem, as the various problems recognized in the previous paragraphs. An easy way to ruin a bright future and cause problems today that would cause permanent damage. As these consequences grow older and older with our country they will be pulling our society down further and further till there is no more.

Why we play football...

Set in the backfield, soaked in rain drops, goosebumps engulfing my body. The scoreboard reads four seconds, down by three. Tunnel hearing, comes into play as I begin to focus, "You got this...run hard, give them hell." Adrenalin rages through my veins, as the count begins; "Red-set-go!" Everything explodes to life in a frenzy of contact and unforgiving collisions. I take my steps, large step backwards and slightly right, full speed through backfield, take the handoff, run...silence. As I manuever through insuing tacklers and teamates all is hushed. I can see the goalpost getting larger in the distance. An unseen threat slams into my right side, "keep going". Then I hear a whistle, a look around; I'm in the endzone. Just another 'W' on the record.

"To Build a Fire"

Trekking through the snow covered Alaskan wilderness, at seventy-five below zero, nothing more than a few matches, an insufficient amount of food, a dog, and thirty-two miles of frozen wilderness between you and safety. No room for error or foolishness; any slip up could mean your life, as the man in “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, would soon find out.

As many may think, the harsh cold was the solo reason for the man’s passing, but it’s not; he had performed many foolish mistakes along the way, as they slowly mounted on his shoulders, till his body could no longer handle it. The first, and possibly most crucial, mistake the man could have made was walking outside in close to seventy-five degrees below zero. To most Wisconsinites, including myself, four or five degrees is considered to be, very cold; avoiding the outdoors is inarguable. Yet, this man is trekking through the snow, in the unbearable clinch of seventy five degrees below zero. We cannot forget the break in the ice, the waste of the fire and loss of responsive hands and feet. I think it’s safe to say this man had frozen himself to death.

Yet, the ironic part of all this chaos is the dog, who, remember, never wanted to go out in the cold, is doing just fine and dandy simply sitting there as the man is slowly killing himself. As you may have noticed from this scenario the dog, unlike the man, is smart, and has much better judgment skills. There is more than just judgment skills in the dogs favor though, “This was a matter of instinct” as the text recognized, and the text is correct. The dog knew the danger of the cold because of its natural instincts. In fact the man’s dog is so well built for the cold that even when forced into the dangerous cold, it is still safe, "warm and secure in its natural covering." These traits the dog possesses saved its life, allowing it to reach the man’s destination alive.

The man may have also reached his destination alongside his dog, if he had made some brighter decision. The consequence of death is always a horrid penalty, but the man could have easily avoided it without his foolishness; his story goes to show that being careful can pay off, and being clumsy can have major consequences.

Snow Day...

Wake up today, the clock reads 11:00 a.m. somehow in the basement, I can't see a thing. A discusting taste of early morning saliva fills my mouth. I notice it's rather cold, the heat isn't running, and most likely hasn't been for at least two hours. As I struggle to find the stairs, I find myself running into objects that, from my memory, shouldn't be there. As I continue to struggle, I run into a wall, the impact rattles my brain, my head begins to throb. But my hand had bumped into a light switch on the wall, I flipped the switch; at first the light was blinding, forcing my eyelids closed. I open them a squint a few moments later, reveling that I was not in the basement, but instead in my room. Curious as to the darkness in my room I open the blinds, a huge drift of snow had built up covering the window and letting in no light. I run to show my family; as I open my door and trvel to living room I notice all of our windows are covered. As I reach the living room I find no one, same with the kitchen and basement. I check the clock, 6:45 a.m. My dad has most likely gone off to work, but my mom and sister should still be here. After checking the rest of the house I look outside, there they were, my dad shoveling, mom breaking ice and sister wrestling my dog in the larger than life snowbank. The cold is intense on my unprotected skin. As I turn to begin getting ready for school my mom calls my name. I turn back, "Go back to bed.", my mom says, as confused as I was, I wasn't about to argue about my mom telling me to go to sleep. When I reach my room I fall asleep in less than five minutes. Waking once again at eleven, I open my door, welcomed by the sound of spongebob on t.v. My sister sitting on the couch, and my dad at the stove making lunch; why we were all still there is confusing. Then it hit me...snow day!

Cole: Real World

Children learn what they live. In Cole's case, he learned about violence, abuse, carelessness, irresponsibility and lack of trust. He really never had a chance at a "normal" life like I have. If nothing else, I find myself the complete opposite of Cole in our upbringing.

After some long thoughts, I began to wonder why some children are fortunate enough to be born into a caring, loving family; then others are born into a family who could care less, very much like Cole's. In fact Cole has fallen victim to two of the most common cases of abuse, neglect and physical abuse. Yet, this statistic was not the most interesting to me; children who are neglected and physically abused are 59% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28% more likely to be arrested as an adult and 30% more likely to commit a violent crime; all because they had an abusive parent, I find that rather disturbing.

But there's one more aspect to Cole's situation that I think should be recognized; Cole's parents were more than likely abused themselves. They probably grew up knowing nothing but pain, either physical, mental or both. The only way they know how to raise a child is the same way they were raised themselves. This viscous cycle has, most likely, been handed down from generation to generation, and it will continue until someone is able to help. Hopefully, through Cole's rehabilitation the abuse cycle can be broken, relieving his children of abuse and neglect.

After Cole is finished at Healing Circle he is hoped to be renewed and live the life he deserves to live, far from abuse. Hopefully he will never become another victim, or statistic, of abuse and he will break the abuse cycle his family has endured for the past generations.