Homework Blog Post 3

Recently in Florida, there was a high school student who was shot and killed by George Zimmerman.  George Zimmerman has said that he had shot Trayvon Martin in self-defense.  Witnesses has said that Zimmerman did not appear hurt or injured in any places which is saying that Martin did not do any harm to him. Martin was minding his own business and this man had thought that he was threatening him. 

I think that George Zimmerman has killed Trayvon Martin because he is discriminating him since he is African American.  In Florida, if you feel like you are being threatened, you can use a weapon to defend yourself.  Zimmerman has felt like he was being threatened by this kid who was minding his own business.  He had only a bag with skittles in it and walking somewhere through a neighborhood.  From all this media having different sides to it, I do not know what to actually believe.  I think the two question could relate to this issue since from our past, we may seem like bad people but people can change into good people. 

Homework Blog Post 2

"How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" has taught me something while I was reading through it.  It has taught me to be thankful for the relationships I have with my family.  The relationships could be worse and no one could be getting along.  But when I look at my family, I do not see that, and I am thankful.  Because in the book, one of the sisters does not have a good relationship with her father.  When the family gets together, they do not communicate much and they often fought.  By reading and going through this part of the book has made an impact on me.  I have thought to myself, "what if that was how my family was like?" If my family was like that, I feel like the family gatherings would be awkward and just not enjoyable with the fights going on.  Before, I did not really think about my family like that and the connections I had with them, so in the end, I am thankful for what I have.

Hw Blog Post 1

I think that more people should put their attention on the school foods that are being served five days a week to the students.  The foods that are served in the school cafeteria are not really healthy for the students.  The meals are mostly fast foods like burgers, french fries, chicken wings, etc.  These types of foods are easy to make and cheaper to buy.  But yet they are the most fattening and unhealthy food out there.  They are loaded with carbs, fats, sugars, and high calorie.  It was said that 94% of the school lunches did not meet the USDA standards.  Even though many of the students know that the school lunches are unhealthy, they still decide to buy them anyways.  And schools will keep on selling them because they know that the students like the fast foods.  Also, at most schools, there are vending machines that sell unhealthy snacks  for a high price.  These food are expensive but students would be craving sweets or chips during the day so obviously, they will buy it.  Because schools sell unhealthy meals and snacks, more people should put their attention and make a change.

http://health.kaboose.com/nutrition/school-lunch-menu.html
http://blog.fooducate.com/2010/03/11/why-is-there-so-much-unhealthy-food-in-schools
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/09/29/school.food.investigation/index.html

Blog Post 7

Art has been shared and shown around the world for centuries and decades.  Everyone has different thoughts that comes to their minds when they hear the word "art".  Some may think of paintings and others may think of music and literature.  Art is something that cannot be avoidable and will always be there wherever you go.  One piece of art work that I have recently enjoyed is my friend's photography that she puts on her Tumblr.  Her art work is very unique and simplistic.  I think that is one of the reasons why I enjoy her photographs and her work.  These photographs are things that she sees everyday and shows the people what she has done, what she likes to do, where she likes to go, etc.  I think that her work should be appreciated by more people and that more people should see it.  The photographs are mainly black and white or sepia.  Maybe because they are things that were done in the past and she wants to experience new things in the future.  Even though people may not know her personally, I still feel like it does leave a good impression on people who looked at it and will make them wanting to go back and see her new photographs. 

Blog Post 6

There are 3.5 months left of my Junior Year of high school (we hope). During this fleeting period of adolescence, before I leave for the summer, I plan to finish off strong as a junior.  I want to have good grades like A's and B's.  This way I can have a good GPA to finish off my Junior Year of high school.  I also want to complete the SAT's before the summer arrives so I do not have to worry about it anymore and get the score I desire.  If I do finish the SAT's by the end of this year, I can start my college applications before senior year hits. If all of these things happen the way I want it to, I can enjoy my senior year and relax.

The best (person at their profession) of all time is my mom, well, in my opinion.  Even though this may sound corny and everyone says this about their moms, I believe that my mom is the best mom out there.  She cares for everyone and everything before she even thinks of herself.  If there is something that my brother and I want, she will get it for us as gifts, even if it is not a special occasion.  My mom is best at being a mom.  She's like my best friend who I can tell anything to and I know my secrets will be safe.  We will do almost everything together when we both have the time.  I think that no one can be the same as her.

The thing that I would recommend for everyone is to do the things that you want to do.  Life is way too short and you do not even know when it will end.  So do not wait a lifetime trying to figure out if you should go for the things you want to do or not; just go for it.  I think that no one should regret something that they never tried or experienced.  I think that everyone should experience things that they want to do and live their lives the way they want to and enjoy it.  Life is too valuable and you should cherish it with everything you have.

Blog Post 5

1. One of the Garcia girls in the book is Sofia.  Sofia is the youngest out of all the sisters in the family.  I would say that she is a rebel but she has learned from it along the way.  She is someone who has learned from her mistakes and moved forward from it.  Sofia ran away with her boyfriend and she also went to another place and met a German guy named Otto.  She decided to marry him.  Sofia has went against her father's words but in the end, I think that she is learning from her mistakes.  I think that the people around her help her to become a better person than she was before and make her choose the right choices.

 2. I feel like there are many negative conflicts in many books.  But those are the ones that you can understand without really going deeper into the story.  In the book, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, I feel that there could be possible positive events/situations as the story progresses.  When Sofia and her sisters reunite to celebrate their father's birthday, there is tension between the father and Sofia.  But as the family keeps on meeting and gathering for special occasions, the relationship between the father and Sofia will get better.  Even though it may seem like things are horrible, later on, good things will come to those who wait.

3. Jeremy Lin is a NBA player who is rising to the top with his basketball skills.  He is not only skillful in basketball but he is also Asian American.  I think that is adding on to his popularity right now because there has not been many Asian American NBA players in the past seasons.  Many people have stereotypes of Asians and how they are not that good at sports and athletic.  But Jeremy Lin has proved the world wrong.  Even though many people still discriminate against others, I think that they should respect them more and give them a chance to show the world what they have to offer. 

Blog Post 4

Valentine's Day
I chose this article first because it sounded the most interesting out of  the six  articles we had to choose from.  It is about Valentine's Day and Valentine's day was yesterday.  I always wondered how much people were actually expected to spend on this holiday.  It was said that people spend about $17.6 billion on romance related goods.  That is almost how much people spend on weddings.  During this holiday, men are expected to give their girlfriends or wives chocolate or gifts.  Gender plays a big role in Valentine's Day.  I feel like people could be using their money for more useful things than getting chocolate for your loved ones.  Even though chocolate may be a sweet treat, I think that people could do things that do not involve much money for these small holidays.

PA Gun Law
This article was interesting to me because I wanted to see what the law has been changed to and because we live near Philly.  This article is pretty much facts throughout the whole thing. If a person purchases a weapon like a gun and loses it, they would have to tell the police what had happened so it could help prevent innocent people from getting shot or harmed.  I think that letting people be armed with weapons is just letting them harm the people that are around them.  I feel that people should not have weapons on them and it should be illegal to carry them around or have them at their houses.  When the guns from shops that are selling them go missing, they are untraceable and now a criminal has that weapon with them.  They could possibly harm others with that weapon.

Elie Wiesel
I picked to read this article because of Elie Wiesel. Last year, in language arts, we read the book Night by Elie Wiesel and it was very interesting to me.  It was basically about his experience through the Holocaust from his point of view.  Many want churches to stop performing posthumous proxy baptisms on Jews.  I feel that it is not the right thing to do to discriminate people just because they are Jews or something else.  Some members of a certain church submitted Wiesel's name so  that he could be baptized.  His father and grandmother's names were also submitted to the site.  They did this without Wiesel knowing that they were submitted names without permission.  

Blog Post 3

In my opinion, the gender roles have been constantly changes over the years and generations.  I think that gender roles will keep on changing no matter what.  I think that the gender roles today between the men and women are pretty much equal than it was in the past.  In the past, the women were left at home to take care of the children and to cook food for the husbands.  The men were the ones who had the control over the family and worked to get money.  But now, the women and men are pretty much equal and they can both vote in elections.  Some stereotypes associated with being a woman is that they still are the "weaker" one.  But not mentally but physically.  Some stereotypes that are associated with being a man is that they are the only one that should be the physical things like lifting heavy stuff, and building things like houses.   Some difficulties of being a woman is that they are more vulnerable and they can be easily in danger.  Some are not strong enough to defend themselves physically.  Some advantages of being a woman is that they will most likely always be put first. 

Blog Post 2

1. In my opinion, I think that this magical person would be less impressive than Einstein.  Because he can only do five tricks but with real magic. Those five tricks will soon get old and no one will be interested if he keeps on doing the same trick. Albert is someone who was very intelligent and kept on learning and come up with new discoveries.

5. If I had to stop my soul mate for getting hurt by the Crescent wrench, I would swallow the pill that will make me hear songs as if it is being performed by Alice in Chains.  It will not kill me to hear songs in a different way and to save my soul mate, I would do anything.

7. I would play the Loch Ness monster as the bigger story out of the three.  The Loch Ness monster has been heard of and seen by some people for many years but it was always thought of as a legend. And now that it has been captured alive, there is proof of the legend being true.

12. I would give the wizard 20 dollars for change my appearance and become more attractive.  Because with one dollar, you can barely tell if there has been and changes made to that random person. But with a couple more dollars, you might be able to actually see some changes that the wizard has made.

16. Now knowing my inevitable future, I will not watch the CFL game on tv because right now I am not interested in sports much.  Even though I know that I will someday become a big sports fan, I still do not know when that will be.  Even if I start watching it now, it will not make any impact on my future.

19. If I had to make up an excuse for kicking them in the ribs while they were sleeping, I would say that I was running to the next room because someone was calling for help outside.  And so I ran as fast as I could but I accidentally kicked you while running outside.  But it was too late when I got outside because the robber already got into the house, stole money, and ran away.

20. I would be more interested in watching the documentary of my actual life because I would want to know what people said in the interviews and see how this documentary was taken.  I would want to see how they perspective might be different from another view.

Blog Post 1

The moment I saw the cover of "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents", the book seemed very interesting to me.  Just from the cover, you can kind of get a feel of the book and what it may be about.  You might think that the book could be about a young girl that is a dancer coming from another country.  The cover catches my attention and makes me want to open the book and read it.  I too was a dancer before so if it is about a dancer, I could probably relate more to the book.  When you read the back cover of the book, it tells you that the Garcia sisters were forced to flee Dominican Republic and come to America because of their father who played a role in a plot against the cruel dictator.  This book may be about the sisters and their family who are trying the assimilate into the new culture and environment of their new homes. From the family tree, it seems like the Garcia family is a pretty big family.  I can see that one member of the Garcia family married a woman from the de la torre family.  The de la torre family is more of a Americanized family and with the families coming together, the families will have to learn each others cultures.  I think that this book will be mainly about cultures clashing.