2006/2007 Rewrite (political Identity Essay)

Political Identity Essay

There is one question in our society that has been debated for centuries and that is the question of whether or not human behavior is good or bad. In my opinion, I believe that essentially, human behavior is good. I agree with John Locke, who believed that “…humans lived in a state of equality and freedom rather than a state of war.” I strongly disagree with Thomas Hobbes, who believed that human life was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” The reason as to why I say this is because even though it seems as if we are all against each other, we can actually help each other out when we try. An example of good human nature is as follows: one day when I was on the bus on the way to school, this young mother and her three children came on the bus which was crowded and there was nowhere for them to sit. To my surprise, about four people gave up their seats so that this mother and her kids could sit down. As you can see from this example, sometimes a difficult situation can bring out the best in human nature.

There is another question that has also been debated and that is the question of whether or not we should put limits on the way people behave. In my opinion, we should impose limits because if we didn’t have any limitations on our behavior, then there wouldn’t be structure and/or order in our society. If we had no limits or laws then there would be even more crime in our city and people wouldn’t be held accountable for their actions. We need structure and order in our lives and for that we have laws. If we break the law, even by a small infraction, then we need to be held accountable for our actions and face the consequences. Laws and rules ensure everyone’s safety and well being.
The last issue I am going to talk about is whether or not government is necessary and what government’s role is in my life. My response to this is that I do believe that government is necessary. If we had no government, then there would be no political structure in this country and there would be no way to ensure our rights as citizens. There would be chaos and no order because everyone would do what he or she wanted to do with disregard to the laws of the land because there would be no one enforcing those laws. Without a government, democracy in this country will cease to exist and all of our rights and civil liberties under the Constitution would be null and void. Without the existence of the three branches of our government, with its built in system of checks and balances, there would be no protection of our rights as citizens. Additionally, without our government in place, we, as a country would be vulnerable to dictatorship and/or martial law. For the reasons outlined above, I strongly believe that the government plays a very important role in my life by protecting my rights and well being.

Although there are many bad events going on in our society today, that does not over power the good that most people have deep inside of them. We as a nation need to stop being so self involved and selfish and think of others. Even if it is just half as much it will still make our society stronger.

lessons plans for Typhoid fever

Day 1
Writing Objective Character conflict in Typhoid fever
Material English Lit Text book
Activity Look for the different conflicts the character faces throughout the story
Student outcome Decipher different conflicts throughout the story.
Reading Objective Multiple conflicts in Typhoid Fever.
Material English lit textbook.
Activity Assign roles for students to read.
Student outcome Students will be able to decipher and talk about different conflicts throughout the story.

Service learning Reflection (5/9/08

On May 9th fro service learning,we went over what we are going to be doing and what retirement homes we could go to. There really isn't much to reflect on since we are waiting to find a retirement home to go to so that we can do the second part of our service learning. We also talked about extending the service learning schedule and how we can still do stuff without the schudule being extended.Also, I amde a few phone calls to retirement homes and Mr. Todd showed us how the schedule might be for service learning and how it could possibly be extended. We also, talked about raising money and what to raise it for.

Motifs for Of Mice and Men

In the story Of Mice and Men, there were many motifs that stood out to me, but the one that stood out to me the most was the motif of honesty. Throughout the story there wasn’t that much honesty between the characters. So what was Steinbeck trying to tell us? Was he trying to say that nobody in this world is honest and that we all tell lies to get ahead of the person next to you, or was he trying to say that telling a lie hear and there won’t hurt you or nobody around you, or was he trying to tell us that we shouldn’t lie at all and that it will always backfire and something bad will always happen, or was he trying to go all the way back to the lessons we all learned about Lock and Hobb’s opinions on human nature and say that our human nature is naturally bad. Well truthfully I believe that he was trying to say that nobody in this world is ever completely honest and that we all tells lies hear and there, whether to help ourselves or to help the well being of others. In this book many people lie whether to help each other, to hurt each other or to protect each other, the persons behavior in this book is reflected in the lies they tell.
In the begging of the book the bus driver lies and tells Lennie and George that the farm was just a “stretch down the road” when it was actually a long way down the road. He did this not to help them but to help himself and also to hurt them. The bus driver didn’t drive them all the way to them farm because he was too lazy. But he actually helped them because if he would have never lied to them then Lennie would have never knew where to go and hide if something bad happened.
Also, crooks lies to Lennie in the middle of the book, bye telling him that George wasn’t coming back and that something bad happened to him. He did this to hurt Lennie and to feel better about himself. Instead of trying to befriend Lennie so that they both wouldn’t be lonely, he lies to make him unhappy, and so that he can take pleasure in his misery. If he would have never lied, they might have actually both been happy, but then again if the whole book had a happy beginning, middle and end who would want to read it?
In the end of the book, George lied to Lennie to help him, even though he ended up killing him, he wanted him to die with happy thoughts. He lied by telling him that they were going to get the farm and be happy, when in the end he ended up killing him, to protect him. So see George ended up lying to help and protect Lennie and even though what he did was wrong he was right by doing it.
So see there many people who lied in this story for numerous reasons, and I still believe that Steinbeck was trying to show that even though people lied in this story most of them lied for good reasons and for others happiness. I don’t believe that lying makes you a bad person, I think that why you lie is what makes you the bad person, because if you lie, just to lie and just for self interest then that shows who you really are.

Service learning (video reflection)

Themes for Of Mice And Men

There were many themes in the story Of Mice and Men, but the theme that stood out to me the most was the theme of the fraternity of brotherhood. In this book they portray this so called fraternity of brotherhood as a group of men who come together and help each other. For example, they come together to get their work done, to kill Lennie, and to protect each other, and also to kill candy’s dog. But truthfully I think that this so called fraternity of brotherhood only exists in books and in movies, because I do not think that men can always get along like that.
In the beginning of the book, after Lennie and George first got to the farm the men united to get their work done. This showed when the men were all working together to help each other to get the work done faster and done right so that they can all get their fifty dollars at the end of the month and all keep their job.
The men or so called “fraternity of brother hood” also united to help protect Lennie from Curly when Curly was hitting Lennie because Curly thought that Lennie was laughing at him. But the real reason was to prove himself since Lennie was so big and Curly was so short and little. But then “the fraternity of brother hood” turned around and then united to kill Lennie, for the revenge of Curly’s wife. Even though not to long ago they tried to help him.
The final example of this brother hood was when they united to kill Candy’s dog. This was an example because they all agreed with Carlson when he wanted to kill the dog. Also, the brother hood all came together once Slim didn’t say no to shooting the dog.
In conclusion, I believe that his was the theme that stood out to me the most in this book, since you can see that there are flaws in this theme, and it is also kind of hypocritical. I also still believe that there is no fraternity of brother hood and the only place that it actually exists is on pages in books and on the screen in movie th

Symbolism for Of Mice and Men (grade this essay)

In the story Of Mice and Men there were many symbols, but the symbol that stood out to me the most was the farm. This farm stood out to me since they kept talking about it, and also since it stood for a lot more than just a farm. It symbolized different things for different people, such as Lennie, George and Candy. It symbolized dreams, happiness, success, peace, and also just a small piece of heaven.
For George it symbolized his small piece of heaven, his dreams and also peace. It symbolized these things because George thought that after they got the farm he would finally be happy and at peace since he wouldn’t have to worry about Lennie getting into any trouble and them losing there jobs. Also, it would make his dreams that he shares with Lennie come true and he would finally have a home.
For Candy the farm symbolized him finally having happiness before he dies, so that he doesn’t have to die with out never achieving anything. Also it would give him his peace to know that he doesn’t have to get fired and not have anywhere to go. As well the farm symbolized the success he would achieve by moving onto this farm.
For Lennie the farm symbolized his happiness, his dreams and a small piece of heaven. It symbolized his dreams because he had a dream to tend rabbits and feed them alfalfa, and that was all he really wanted to do and also all that he could ever remember. Also, the only dream that Lennie ever really had was the dream to live on a farm with George. The farm symbolized a small piece of heaven since that was his last thought before he died.
In conclusion, I feel as though this was one of the more powerful symbols, since it was a symbol to more than one person. Also, the only person who ever really got what the farm was symbolized Lennie. And the only way that he got that was with. Death

Service learning reflection (5/1/08)

Last week for service learning with Mr.Todd we pretty much did the same thing as the week before. Also, I had written a e-mail to all staff saying about how we should extend service learning time to the way it was last year. I was trying to convince Mr.Todd to allow this and bring it up to the rest of the staff, by saying that we really don't have that much time to do what we have to do. Especially for groups who go outside of the building lke ours. We also, tried to finalize a schedule so that we could rotate between visiting the elderly and tutoring ESL students. Over all, last weeks service learning was very helpful because I got a better understanding as to what my group will be doing throughout the rest of this year.

Service learning Reflection (4/25/2008)

Last Friday at service learning we talked about our future plans for what we can do on the upcomming weeks of serice learning. We decided on an alternating schedule between visting the elderly and tutoring the ESL people next door. We also assigned designated jobs to people, such as who takes the notes and who facilitates the conversation. I was rersponsible for taking notes on the smart board last week, I also helped facilitate the conversation. We had a good conversation about why we should do both tutoring and visiting elderly people, because at first we were just going to do one, but then we thought that it would be better if we did both.

Service learning Reflection

Last Friday at our service learning group we discussed what we are planning to do since our group was kind of confused about what exactly we were doing. We decided that instead of teaching english we are just going to focus on spending time with elderly people in general. Also, we discussed where we could go and what we could talk about while we was there. We went threw how we would get there and the activities we could do towards the end of service learning.
Tommorrow I want to focus on actually getting started and figuring out where we can go and what we could do with them.

Service learning (independent hours)

This year for my independent hours I am going to volunteer at my mom's job. She works for a non-profit organization called Vision For Equality, which is located on 7th and Arch. Volunteering there I'll most likely be doing filing and mailing for the company. I already have a few hours that I did there and a letter stating that I did those hours. To do this I'll just walk up there after school and volunteer for a few hours until they close.

School wide service learning

Last year for my hours in school I did school tutoring. I enjoyed this last year because I like working with children. Even though I didn't want to do service learning last year, after it started I had no problem with it. The only part that I don't like is the research that we have to do for it. This year for my hours in school I'll probably do school tutoring again, unless there is something else that sounds more interesting than tutoring.

NHD Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography
(War on drugs)

http://stopthedrugwar.org/
This website talked about stopping the war on drugs. It also gave both opinions of this topic. This website was a lot of help because it gave me an understandable concept of both sides of this war. Before being on this website I only had a one sided opinion now I fully understand both sides.

http://www.holysmoke.org/oc000/027.htm
This website featured only a one sided opinion and that was of people who think that smoking should be legalized. It gave facts, dates, and also peoples opinions on it.

http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2003/12/22/whyIsMarijuanaIllegal.html
TThis is a blog talking about what affects the war on drugs had on america. For example, this war caused racism, fear, protection of corporate profits, yellow journalism, ignorant, incompetent, and/or corrupt, legislators, and also, personal careers and also greed.

http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/vnn/491221096.html
This website talks about racism, violence and cannabis. It also uses quotes to explain how people feel about drugs. This site mainly has one view of the war: it should be illegal .


http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/454/racial_profiling_in_london_marijuana_enforcement
this topic mainly talks about how African Americans are more likely to get arrested for possession of drugs than are caucasions. As I was reading this I found that the drug war created more racism in the world amonst cops and citizens. It also stated that almost 18.5 % of blacks get locked up each year while only 14 % of whites were.

http://www.dhm.de/museen/hanf/hemp9132.htm

This website was about The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, imposes special taxes upon persons engaging in activities involving articles or material within the definition of "marihuana" and also taxes the transfer of such articles or material. This website just talked about this act and not that much else.

http://www.ephidrina.org/cannabis/taxact.html
This site explains the Marijuana Tax act. It talks about why it was written, by whom, and different minded opinions on the act. It also included a poster that is related to the act telling people to beware of marijuana.

http://www.zmag.org/zmag/articles/dec95sklar.htm
this is an article by Holly Sklar on reinforcing racism with the war on drug. Its talks about how blacks are most likely to get lcoked up for poccestion then whites.


http://www.drugwarfacts.org/
this website explains about a book, that we are going to be reading. It talks about the facts and statistics involved in this book. It also talks about criminal justice issues and health issues. This book will be a lot of help because it talks about how the drug war affected America over time.

http://www.druglibrary.org/Schaffer/LIBRARY/mj_outlawed.htm
This website talks about why Marijuana was outlawed. This website is a lot of help because it gives us a understanding on the consequences marijuana has on both people and our nation. It also gives a timeline of the states and when they outlawed it in each state.


http://www.druglibrary.org/Schaffer/LIBRARY/opiates_outlawed.htm
This website talks about why coke was outlawed . Its an article on the effects of coke and people who suffered from it . It also gives a timeline on when each state made it illegal. It was a lot of help because it wasn’t just focusing on marijuana, but on other drugs as well .

http://www.druglibrary.org/Schaffer/LIBRARY/gateway_myth.htm
This website talks about how marijuana is a gateway drug. It also sates that marijuana being addictive is a myth, its just mind controlling. The site also lists other myths that take part in marijuana and helped us discover what true and whats not. Also, it talked about how the myth got stated and why.


http://www.druglibrary.org/Schaffer/LIBRARY/epidemic_cause.htm
This website talks about what causes drug epicemics among kids. This was helpful because it explains why they think so many kids are using drugs. Also, I found it helpful because it gives an understanding as to why so many of our young generation is either experimenting, in rehab, have drug problems or are now behind bars.
http://www.druglibrary.org/Schaffer/LIBRARY/basicfax2.htm
this site talks about how many people are using drugs in the united states. This site was VERY helpful because it helped us realize how many people this war is affecting. It also gives us an understanding of the people using drugs over time and what types of people these are.

http://www.druglibrary.org/Schaffer/LIBRARY/basicfax3.htm
this sites talks about how many people die from drugs each year. This was very helpful because it proves that other drugs and tabacco kill thousands of people each year and marijuana kills NONE. It also proves that tabacco kills more people then any drug each year.

http://www.chillpharm.com/
This site talks about the main information on drugs. But not only does it talk about drugs it also talks about rehab treatment and anti- drugs. It also gives links to for information on illegal drugs and rehbs.

http://www.dea.gov/concern/cocaine_prices_purity.html
this site gives as an overview on the price of drugs, mainly cocaine. It talks about how the government is suffering because if drugs were legal they could tax them. It talks about what people go through to get their hands on drugs and gives us information on why what drug costs what.

http://www.bendib.com/newones/2006/december/small/12-4-War-on-Drugs.jpg
this is an image on slavery and war on drugs. This is very helpful because it shows us how slavery and the war are related.

5 Ideas for service learning

1) School tutoring (again)
2)visit elderly people
3)school wide recycling
4)volunteer at Hospitals
5)raise money for people with diseases

Blooms Taxonomy (Application)

3. What questions would you ask of Bigger Thomas, if you had the chance to meet him?
If I had the to meet Bigger Thomas I would ask him: Why did you try to rape Mary Dalton? & What caused you so much pain to kill a women who was kind to you?

Blooms Taxonomy (Analysis)

4. What are some problems between Bigger and his mother?
Some problems between Bigger and his mother are Bigger's mom wants him to get a job, when he doesn't want to. Also Bigger's mom treats him worse then his brother or sister.

Blooms Taxonomy (Synthesis)

5. Why don't you devise your own way to deal with want happened in Mary's room, right before Bigger killed her?
To deal with what happened in Mary's room I would have told somewhat of the truth.
A way I would have told somewhat of the truth is, when Mrs. Dalton came into the room I would have said "Ma'am, Miss Dalton is drunk and she wasn't able to came up the stairs on her own so I helped her to her room," and I would have dealt with the repercussions.
In conclusion in dealing with what happened in Mary's room, before I killed her, Bigger and I differ.

Blooms Taxonomy (evaluation)

6. How would you feel if you were in Bigger's position, a young poor black boy killing a young rich white women?
If I was in Bigger's position, a young poor black boy having just killed a young rich white women, I would have panicked and turned myself in.
I would have panicked because killing a person would have just landed me in jail but killing a RICH, WHITE women could get me killed, especially in the 1930's.
Also I would have, mostly likely, turned myself in because if I had as much fear as Bigger had I wouldn't have framed someone but cried until I couldn't move and then BEG for forgiveness from Mr. and Mrs. Dalton and accept any punishment.

Blooms Taxonomy (Knowledge)

1. Describe what happened at the pool house between Bigger and Gus the second time.
Bigger and Gus got into a fight. Bigger threatened Gus by putting a knife to his neck. They fought because Bigger was afraid of robbing Old Blum.

Blooms Taxonomy (Comprehension)

2. Who was the key character in the plan Bigger made after killing Mary?
The key character in Bigger's plan was Jan. Bigger was planning to frame Jan for Mary's murder.

Native son (chapter three)

Begins on page 14 and ends on page 41 after the first paragraph is finished.
During this chapter Bigger convinces Jake, G.H. and Gus to go and rob a white man named Old Blum. While waiting for the time of the robbery Bigger and Jake go to the movies and they see Bigger- maybe- employer’s daughter and Bigger rethinks backing out of the job offer. So when it is time to rob Old Blum Bigger and Gus get into a fight and they don’t do the robbery. At the end of Chapter 3 Gus and Bigger have stopped fighting and Bigger slices Doc’s pool table.

Analysis-
I think Richard Wright puts this chapter in the book because it shows that you will do crazy things and lie just so you don't have to do something you don't want to.

NHD Reflection

NHD this year was actually a lot less stressful than last year. I guess it's because I already knew what I was doing because of last year. At first, i thought that mine and Becky's exhibit was never going to get done, but after awhile I seen that we were actually a lot farther than a lot of people. The hardest challenge I had was printing things out, and actually figuring out where to put them on the board, but other than that everything actually went good, and we found a lot of images, graphs, statistics and information that supported our view of the project. Doing this project was actually easy for me to do since I had just seen the affects the drug war has had on some of my friends, this helped me make real life connections to my project. Next year I am most likely going to do another exhibit because I like doing them alot better than i do writing papers. I am not sure what I want my topic to be yet, but I know thats it will be one that I am interested in so that I can get it done easy like I did this one.

NHD Process paper

Streets Vs. Society

For NHD this year we chose to do the war on drugs as our topic. We found this topic very interesting and unique because we figure that nobody else would pick this topic. Also, we have both seen the effects that it has on the people involved and the people who have suffered the repercussions of being involved in this war. For example, the boys who sell drugs (who are better known as hustlas), the people who buy it, the fiends who need it and also the dumb people who get caught with it and end up spending months to years of their life in jail. Months and years that they will never get back. Other people who are involved are the people who are against drugs, and want them off the streets. These people include the cops, probation officers, judges, the government, rehab facilities, narcs, and of course concerned parents. At first we were going to focus on the war on drugs in general, but then we figured that it was to broad and we re thought our topic and decided to focus only on Marijuana. For the project we decided to do a board because we figured that it would show our prospective the best.
At the start of this project our opinion was the same, we both thought that the war on drugs is senseless, and unlike many other people we talked to about it our opinions still have not changed. We still believe that the war o n drugs needs to end for many reasons, this war as many people already know is going on around the world and is not just affecting the people that I just named; it is also affecting people just like you and me. Examples of this are loosing friends and family members either to death, the streets or addiction, and the penal system. As a result to this war we are experiencing many effects. Such as racism, racial profiling form cops and also neighbor hood people, more people taking up spaces in jail because it is illegal, people not being able to get a decent job, because they were sent to prison which then results in poverty among the community.
Now we know that many people would disagree with this but truthfully from the data that I found in doing this project I found that the government spends more money on the war on drugs than people do on there drug use. Also the percentage of people incarcerated for marijuana is the highest among young people, which proves that this war is greatly affecting the young people of our community.
For this project we conducted two interviews. The first one was of an anonymous source that smokes weed. And the other was our Art teacher Ms. Klose, who used to work at a drug rehab facility. We figured that we would conduct more that one interview so that we could get both sides of this war. We also conducted a lot of research using the Internet and found that the drugs that are actually legalized in our country are the ones that kill the most people, such as tobacco and Alcohol, but marijuana has never been proven to kill any one.
The conflict of this topic is racism due to drugs, poverty, the crime and murder rate, and also the temptation/peer pressure of illegal drugs. The compromise of this topic is actually hard to explain since there isn’t really a specific compromise because this war is still going on today. And in our opinion locking up 3 generations of people including our neighbors and friends isn’t a compromise at all. Especially when we still have rapists, murderers, petifiles, and robbers on the streets. So after all of this I want you to just ask yourself is the war on drugs all worth it.

Chapter 2 (Native son)

Chapter two starts off when bigger comes back and gets scolded by his mom because his sister Vera fainted from Bigger shaking the dead rat in her face . At the end of chapter two Bigger went to the pool house. When Bigger gets scolded by his mom I think that that was a big let down for him since he had thought that he did right by killing the rat, but in the end it seems like he just can't make his mom happy.

Chapter 1 (Native son)

Chapter one starts off at page three and in my opinion it should end at page 7, when it says "Aww I didn't know she was that scary". This chapter starts off with the alarm clock ringing, and is bout Bigger killing a rat which in my opinion symbolizes the society around Bigger and his family and also the struggles that they go threw, and then him teasing his sister with it and she ends up passing out and his mom yelling at him about it.

Fear (outline)

War on drugs (topic essay)

For NHD this year our topic is “the war on drugs”. We choose this topic because we found it interesting and also found it original. Also, we have both seen the effects that it has on the people involved and the people who have suffered the repercussions of being involved in this war. For example, the boys who sell drugs (who are better known as hustlas), the people who buy it, the fiends who need it and also the dumb people who get caught with it and end up spending months to years of their life in jail. Months and years that they will never get back. Other people who are involved are the people who are against drugs, and want them off the streets. These people include the cops, probation officers, judges, the government, rehab facilities, narcs, and of course concerned parents.
This war as many people already know is going on around the world and is not just affecting the people that I just named; it is also affecting people just like you and me. Examples of this are loosing friends and family members either to death, the streets or addiction, and the penal system. As a result to this war we are experiencing many effects. Such as racism, racial profiling form cops and also neighbor hood people, more people taking up spaces in jail because it is illegal, people not being able to get a decent job, because they were sent to prison which then results in poverty among the community.
The conflict of this topic is racism due to drugs, poverty, the crime and murder rate, and also the temptation/peer pressure of illegal drugs. The compromise of this topic is actually hard to explain since there isn’t really a specific compromise because this war is still going on today. And in our opinion locking up 3 generations of people including our neighbors and friends isn’t a compromise at all. Especially when we still have rapists, murderers, petifiles, and robbers on the streets.

links for "The war on drugs"

http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/
http://www.nationalreview.com/12feb96/drug.html
http://stopthedrugwar.org/
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/basicfax.htm

religion in schools

People have been debating the question of whether or not religion should or should not be taught in schools for years. There have even been court cases to right for the right to incorporate religion into public school education. Well in my opinion I believe that religion should not be taught in public schools. I believe that if parents want there children to learn about religion they should send there kids to catholic schools. Also, if public schools teach one religion, then they should be obligated to teach all of them. Parents might also take offense to their children learning about other religion than theirs. So therefore I believe that to avoid all the extra unnecessary drama religion should not be taught in schools.

Below are links that wiill tell you more about this topic:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/ps_pray.htm
http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/cs/blcs_sch_index.htm
http://www.au.org/site/PageServer?pagename=issues_publicschools

War on drugs (NHD)

For my NHD project I am doing the war on drugs. this is a war that has been going on for many years na dis pretty much all the reasons as to why drugs are illegal and why people think they should be legalized. I thought this would be interesting since nobody will probably do this topic and I wanted to do something original. I am working on this project with a partner and me and her are most likely do a display board, which will most likely be alot different from last year being that I did a paper on the Italian Mafia.