Jonathan & Katniss

Author's Note: This is a comparative essay for Language Arts. I am working on Idea Development. Any feedback would be great. 

Have you ever thought about going to war? Maybe you want to or not. Katniss, the Hunger Games, & Jonathan, The Fighting Ground, are both in war, but will they live? There are many similarities between the two, but the there are differences, Yet they still have the same importance to the war.

Jonathan & Katniss are both very important to the war. Both of them are really fighting in the war but they are helping in a way that really affects the war. Katniss doesn't fight in the war, but she is the face of the rebellion. Jonathan tried to fight in the war but was captured. Once he escaped the Americans wanted him just so he could sneak into the Cabin and say if the Hessians were still sleeping. They were the Pawns.

Both of them couldn't really decide which side they were on. Yes, Katniss was with the rebels and Jonathan was an American, but could either of them really trust anyone. Katniss ended up killing Coin, The leader of the rebels, instead of Snow, Leader of the Capitol. Jonathan went back into the cabin to see if the Hessians were still sleeping, but instead he woke up the Hessians and warned them that the Americans were outside. They both didn’t trust the side they were on.

There is one difference between the two.  Katniss became the face of the rebellion after the stunt with berries. She went to war, she never wanted to but was forced to. All Jonathan wanted to do was fight in the war. His dad didn't want him to but he did any ways. After all that had happened I don't think that either of them ever want to experience that again. 

Both of them are important but are still just pawns. They probably didn't expect anything that this to ever happen in their lives, and it made a huge impact to their lives. An experience they will never forget.

The Fighting Ground - Cause & Effect

This book has so much to do with cause and effect. Everything Jonathan does changes the story.  The biggest thing was Jonathan wanting to go war. His father did not want him to. But the Hessians were coming and he went any ways. If he never went to war he would have never gotten captured. There wouldn't have been any story if he listened to his father. Even the littlest things can change the story. 

The Waitress with Big Dreams

May I. Take-Order is a waitress. She wants to become a star football player for the Green Bay Packers. But for now she works at Applebee's. She practices football all the time.

"Set, Hut, Hut, Hike!" May yells then snaps the ball (Burger).

As she snaps the pretend football and at this time everyone in Applebee's is staring at her. Because how many times have you see a waitress play football with a burger in a restaurant? 

"She has time, May throws it down the right side line!" May yells.

The burger is flying through the air and the burger smashes right into the costumers face. May throws her arms up in the air.

"TOUCHDOWN!"

The costumer she hit wasn’t just any costumer it was the Packers Manager! He walks over to her.

"That was a marvelous show you just put on there," He says.

"Really!?" May is getting really excited now.

"Yes! How about you and me take a trip to Lambeau Field and see what you can do." He says.

"YES, YES, YES!" May screams and by now she is jumping for joy.

As May is leaving the restaurant she screams "See ya SUCKAS, I am going to be a GREEN BAY PACKER!!!"

As she arrived at Lambeau she dashed out of the car and ran straight into the building. They told her to get on the field. She was ready, she had all her gear and everyone was set.

"Hut, Hut, Hike!" Yells Mays

After throwing multiple perfect passes not letting one touch the ground, they decide to put her into a game. May brings the Packers to a 16-0 season.

It the super bowl and they are down. 6 seconds left they and they are down 35-31. They on the 10 yard-line.

"Hike!" May screams.

"It's a QB Sneak!" says the announcer.

May breaks free. She dives into the end zone! Crash! Like the sound of a window breaking woke her with a start.

"Oh, it was just a dream," May thought to herself.

"Well maybe I am just seeing the Future!"

The Fighting Ground - Point of View

Author's Note: I am working on Point-of-View. The book I am reading is "The Fighting Ground". It is comparing Jonathan (Main Character) and the Hessians (German Soldiers) view of each other.

It is Revolutionary War time and a 13 year-old boy named Jonathan wants to fight in the war. His doesn't want him to go to war, but since his father is hurt with a leg problem, Jonathan runs off and disobeys his father. Once the first shots are fired, war is nothing Jonathan thought it would be. After the battle he surrenders himself to the Hessians. The Hessians speak German and Jonathan speaks English, so they have totally different perspectives of each other. In the book it is weird because when you know what Jonathan thinks about the Hessians, but when you see what the heesians are acually saying it gives you a whole different perspective of them. To Jonathan they are emotion-less people that want to kill Jonathan. Jonathan doesn't know what they are saying, but he can kind of guess. The Hessians think of Jonathan as a weak little boy that shouldn't be in the war. Since they speak different languages they really don't know what the other is thinking. 

Short Story

A crash, like a window breaking woke me with a start! I look out the window, but there is just a bunch of mountain out there. Wait a minute, that does make any sense I live in a neighborhood and there aren't mountains for miles. I walk downstairs, no one is there. This is getting kind of creepy. I take a step outside and I am frozen.  I can't say anything, because there is nothing there!

As I stare out into the empty field, this man walks by saying nothing. I start to chase him. Finally I catch him and ask him where we are.  

"A meteor hit and wiped out everything." said the man "Oh, by the way my name is Jack."

"Some how your house is still standing." says Jack "I survived by mining, I got lucky because  I was underground. Here you can have this pick axe" says Jack

"Thanks!" I exclaim

"Here also takes this sword because after the meteor hit, monsters have been walking around usually at night but some during the day." says Jack

I let Jack stay in my house if he needs it. These tools are great but I will have to get some better ones.

As I set off on my journey to find anything a large green blob launches itself at me. I pull out my sword ready to fight!

To be continued

Point Of View- The Hessians

We have found this boy. He seems he is  to be around 13 years old. At first he didn't know anything that we were saying, but now he is sort of catching on. He doesn't speak German. I think we won the battle, but the only problem is that we are the only ones left.

The Outsiders- Final Essay

Author's Note: This is my final essay for the book, The Outsiders. I am working on organization, idea development, and content. Feedback would be great. 

How much does your family affect your life? Have you ever thought about how your life would be without them? Is there a difference between parents that died, parents that are abusive, and parents that abandoned you? There is definitely a difference, and readers can see this difference through the characters of The Outsiders.

Darry is a son of parents that died. He was 18 when his parents died. Darry was athletic, smart, and had scholarships to colleges, but he had two brothers to take care of. He gave up the idea of going to college for his family.  His parents didn't abuse, hurt, or abandon him and you can't control death, so there was nothing to be mad at. Since he had good parents he will end up a good person.

Johnny had abusive parents. He had his parents his entire life and they always abusive so bad that he doesn't want to go home. He sleeps in the park if he has to. Johnny was always the nice that held the gang together. I think that Johnny is so nice because he doesn't want to become like his parents. Unlike Darry, he never had a family to love him.

Dally barely knew his parents because they left him when he was so little. At the age of 10 he was already in jail. He lived by himself for most of his life. Jail made him tougher than the rest of the gang. Ponyboy said about Dally, "He was tougher than the rest of us- tougher, colder, meaner."His Parents left him with something to be mad at for the rest of his life.

Family can make a huge difference on your life. In the outsiders everyone's parents were different and every single person turned out differently. The one with the worst parents had the worst life. Just something to remember if you ever read The Outsiders.

Nothing gold can last forever

Author's Note: This was a poem in the outsiders. I will be writing  about what I think it means.

I think that the poem means that everything good can't last forever. I think this could refer to Darry. He was super athletic, smart, and had scholarships to colleges. He could went but his parents died and he became the guardian of his 2 brothers.

Conflict - The Outsiders

The conflict that the Socs were attacking Johnny and PonyBoy. Bob was drowning Ponyboy, then Johnny pulled out his knife and killed the Soc. They had to run away or else they would get the electric chair.

Dally

Dally is a Greaser. A rough kid in the gang. He is from New York. He stands out from the greasers, because he is a lot tougher than others. "He was tougher than the rest of us-tougher, colder, meaner." -The Outsiders

The Tell-Tale Heart

So tell me is he insane? I think he is. He may say that he is sane, but some of the things he does really makes me doubt that. I believe that he is insane.

There is this guy (his name was not mentioned) who works for this old man. This is no ordinary old man because he has the Evil Eye. The man decides to kill the man to destroy the evil, because that is the most sane thing you can do.  The man suffocates the old man with a mattress. Then he chops in up into little pieces and hides them underneath the floorboards.   

First of all why kill someone just because their eye. Why would you kill someone in the first place. Then chop them up into little pieces. What is wrong with this guy? This guy is definitely insane.

Patriot's Pen

Are you proud of your country? I am proud of my country. They started this country from 13 small colonies; defeated England to win our freedom and worked up from nothing to make this great nation named America. In this you have your own rights and you can choose what religion you are. I am not saying everything the US did was perfect, but I would say we are a pretty great country.  

Conclusion Practice

Author's Note: This was our assignment to practice writing conclusions for a fiction short story. I thought it was a good ending because of the twist. Feedback would be great. 

On her way to deliver the poison apple to Snow White, the Evil Queen got hungry. She was so hungry she was about to faint. All she had was the apple; it looked so perfect. Her hand started shaking. Her face started sweating. She starts to lift the apple towards her mouth. Right as she's just about ready to take a bite………………DOMO jumps out of the bush, slaps the apple out of her hand, and throws her off the Grand Canyon!!        THE END

Frank and the Giant Cheese Problem

Frank owned a cheese castle in England, but there were never any customers. So he decided to sell the store and start a potato factory in Idaho. Where he could build his own potatoes. After he sold his castle he took one more look at his castle and he saw a giant sign that he had never seen before and it looked like it had been there for years and it said "Closed."

Casey at the Bat

The Pewaukee 5A LA Journal Sentinel

Casey Strikes out

Breaking News

Mudville loses 4-2. They had a chance in the ninth when Casey strikes out for the last out with 2 men on base. What a shame. The conflict was that they were losing by 2 and they had 2 men on base. Rising actions was when Casey was stepping up to bat. The climax was at the end when Casey strikes out; it's the point of no return because you can't really restart the game. The resolution is that Casey strikes out.

By: Matt Derzay

This is a news paper if you haven’t figured it out yet.

Year-End Review

Author’s Note: This is my final Year-end wrap up. My final piece of 7th grade. I just wanted to tell you just how my 7th grade year went.

This was a very different year. Not exactly the type of classes most school goers have. There were good things and some bad things about it. Overall This has been one of the best years ever.

First of all, I wasn’t in regular classes, I was in Academy 21. I know what you are probably thinking “What is Academy 21?” Well, Academy 21 is a project based year of learning. You choose the project and how you present it. During the project you have to hit certain area like social studies or science.

While doing that we also did a program called Aleks. Which is a supplement to a  real math class since there isn’t to much math in our project. It really helped me, because I was able to finish 2 years of math in just 7th grade. Now I get to go to the high math class.

During resource we have seminars. Which are like regulars classes but for a short amount of time. We were able to request something that we were struggling with and we may work on that for the next seminar.

Like most people We still have electives like gym or french. My electives were gym, french, band, tech ed, and robotics. We also started a literature/book club. We meet every A day during 5th hour.

This 7th grade was one of the best years ever. It was a great experience to have during the school years. Next I will being going back to regular classes. Also this year went extremely fast. Though it was a fun year I can’t wait for summer.

HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy 6/1

Author's Note: This is a response for the latest book that I am reading called the HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  I just read 30 more pages. Some feedback would be great.

Arthur and Ford just were thrown off a ship into space. The Vogons who have the third worst poetry in the universe tortured them with poetry and threw them into space. But right when you think the story is over "Boom" they find themselves in a "heart of gold ship. Brand new in the space catalog! This space ship can go into improbably drive, which lets you travel the Universe in seconds. The best part are the doors. It's there pleasure to open the door for you. Closing again with the knowledge of a job well done. Just listen for the "Hummmmmmmyummmmmmm ah! That's the sound it makes when it knows you are pleased.

The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Author’s Note: This is a response to the new book I am reading The HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. If you could give some feedback that would be great.

The world at its end. While some aliens are trying to create a galactic highway. What do they do, they blow it up. Just before the earth is destroyed a man named Ford Prefect, who is not human and has been stuck on earth for the last fifteen year, and a human named Arthur Dent escape the planet. While hitchhike a ride on the Vogon’s ship Ford shows Arthur the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy. Which is a outdated electronic book that you can learn about anything. Now Ford Prefect is working on the new version, because things can change over time.

Whale Shark

Author’s Note: This is a content essay for life science. I am working on introduction and vocabulary. If you could give me some feedback that would be great.

Have you ever wondered how big a whale shark really is? Not a blue whale a shark whale. Because of the whales size, diet, and location, it makes it one of the most interesting fish in the sea. 


First, imagine a school bus. A whale shark is the size of a average school bus. They are the biggest shark and fish in the sea, not including whales. 

Their natural habitat is all the way around the world, but just near the equator. Just imagine a band wrapped around the earth on top of the equator. That is where they live. Obviously they like the warm water temperature. Though they are carnivore, people that live down by the equator can have a safe ride.


They’re natural prey is plankton. All the whale shark has to do is open it’s mouth and suck in everything around it. It closes it’s jaws and it filters out all the water and it eats whatever is it it’s mouth. It's weird how such a big animal eats tiny little plankton.



These whale in a wide stretch of land and are gigantic.They are carnivorous but will only eat plankton, So there is no possible way it would eat a human, so you can have a safe ride.

Carnival

Last Friday was carnival night and it was a huge success. I ran mini golf and minute to win it. Well, I wasn’t there, but I was in the group that ran those two. The minute to win it was easy. We just had a golf balls to stack on top of each other and then the tissue box. For the golf course we got a little lazy, because we had already one golf course. We never talked about getting together and building another one. There I think we lacked teamwork and communication. But otherwise it turned out great.

Gorillas

Author’s Note:This is a content essay for life science. I am working on adding opinion or reaction, sentence structure, organization, and proof reading. If you could give me some feedback that would be great.

Have you ever thought about the theory that men evolved from monkeys. If you think about it, monkeys and gorillas aren’t very different from humans. Also Gorillas are smarter than most of the animals out there.

First, there are 3 species of gorilla. The east lowland gorillas, west African gorilla, and mountain gorilla. Gorillas aren’t really endangered except for the mountain gorilla. There aren’t any in zoos and there is only 673 in the wild. The other gorillas aren’t endangered at all. Gorillas mainly live in the middle parts of Africa. Gorillas have no predators except the possibility of a leopard.

Secondly, Gorillas are very close to being human. Well, besides that fact that they can’t talk to us. Besides the 2 species of chimpanzees Gorillas are the closes thing to a human. Gorillas have posoble thumbs just like us. They seem to be smart as a cave man, which isn’t as bad compare to most animals. Maybe 1000’s of years from now they will make a car just like how we started off. Maybe it’s the next creature to take humans place, there are just 1000’s of years behind us.

There are so many Gorillas out there, except for the mountain gorillas. They are getting smarter. So do you think that gorillas could be the next creature to take humans place or do you think that it is just another animal. Who knows.

Spring Break

Author’s Note: This is a free-choice essay. I am working on Sentence Structure, adding opinion or reaction, organization, and proof reading. If you could give me some feedback that would be great.

Have you ever been on a vacation before? One that you didn’t even know you were going on until you got the airport. Well, over spring break one of those vacations happened to me. It was one of the biggest surprises of my life.


First, this all started Saturday the 1st day of spring break. It was a normal Saturday morning. I invited my friend Carson over. Until my Mom said we are going to visit our Aunt in Milwaukee. We were driving and we going towards the airport which I didn’t find weird because my Aunt lives near the airport. Once we were driving into the airport, I asked my Mom where we were going. She said we were going to Florida. I couldn't believe it. I telling my Dad “Are you lyin’”. 


I couldn’t believe it, my Dad wasn’t lying and it only took 2 hours to get there. Once we got there it was already 9:00 pm. If all the luggage and the shuttle. We didn’t get to the hotel till about 11:00. While we were there we went to Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, a part Animal Kingdom, and my favorite, Universal. 


One of my favorite parts of Universal was the Harry Potter section. It was a life size replica of the city Hogsmeade. But the best part was Hogwarts. The castle was basically a ride. We waited 70 minutes for this ride and that was in the morning. Anyways, you would sit down in a chair for a roller coaster and you fly around in caves with big dragons and spiders. Also you would sometime go into a room where it was a big screen. So you would be flying with Harry Potter. It was so real that when it looked that I was getting close to the ground, on the screen, I would want to lift my feet up.

 
Secondly, my favorite ride of all was called the “Rockit”. It was a roller coaster that when you sat down, there is a touch screen on the handles. First you would pick a genre, then you’re artist and song. So during the ride you would listen to that song. I picked “Can’t touch this” by MC Hammer. It goes straight up and then straight back down. It was so awesome and I only had to wait 45 minutes.

I had such a great time. I was so surprise when I went. I just couldn't believe it. If you ever go there I encourage you to go to the Harry Potter(Universal), Rockit(Universal), Expedition Everest(Animal Kingdom), see the Fantasmic show at Hoolywood studios, and go on the Buzz Lightyear ride, because it is just that awesome(Magic Kingdom). 

Animal Farm 4/27/11

Author’s Note: This my response to the last 2 chapters in the book Animal Farm. If you can give be some feedback, that would be great.

After reading the last chapters, what really got me thinking was Napoleon. Is he just like a human. It boggles my mind I just don’t understand. He goes through all this hard work to get the Animal Farm going. Then he just becomes another Jones. I mean he is standing on 2 legs with a bunch of other pigs, and he is talking and drinking with other farmers. What I think is that he started the Animal Farm just so he could become the next Jones. With that the 7 commandments became the one commandment, All animals are equal. Some more than others. Now thinking back to the beginning it would be interesting to see what would have if snowball was the leader.

Animal Farm 4/25/11

Author’s Note: This is a response for book in lit. club, Animal Farm by George Orwell. If you could give me some feedback, that would be great.

After reading the last two chapters in the book, It seems the more I hate Napoleon as a leader. From blaming everything on Snowball and breaking 3 of the 7 commandments but then just adding 2 words to make it seem okay. It just the more he does he proves to me that he is not a leader.

First of all, since Napoleon chased Snowball off the farm convinced everyone that Snowball’s a traitor. Now Napoleon is breaking the commandments like no animal should sleep in a bed or no animal should kill another animal and after the executions he added 2 words, without cause, and that made all peachy again. These commandments wouldn't have any value if he keeps changing them.        

Burning the Prairie

Today we went out to see the prairie 2 days after the burning. I think we should burn the prairie, because all it really does is help the prairie grow. The animals that live there have enough time to get out of there in time anyways. Really nothing lives in the prairie except a bunch of bugs. We always keep it under control. Also it kills any exotic and dangerous plants that we don't want, so I think it is a good thing that we burn the prairie.

http://www.tallgrass.org/fire.html

Animal Farm 4/14/2011

Author’s Note: This is a response to my new book Animal Farm by George Orwell. So far I have read up to chapter 7. If you could give some feedback that would be great.

Now that I am starting to get into the book I see how this is a lot like the Russian revolution. But the one point in the book that makes me mad, but of course it has to be exactly like the Russian revolution. Right now one of my favorite characters is Snowball. Snowball is supposed to be like Trotsky in the Russian revolution, well that is what I think. 

One reason he is like Trotsky, because he gets kicked off the farm. Napoleon kicks off the farm, I think because he scared Snowball will take over. The reason I don’t like is that Napoleon says that Snowball destroys the windmill. What if he did not. Maybe this a scheme from Napoleon just to kill Snowball and have the other animals on his side.

Comparing Countries

My 3 countries were the US, Japan, and Greece. Well there is no way I would want to live Greece because they die faster and they have no money. Japan and US would be close because one they live longer because they eat healthier. The problem with Japan is that is an island so a tsunami, like the one that just happened, hits it wipes out the entire country. The last thing that makes it really close is that Japan gets video games 2-3 years in advance, except for Xbox. I think I would want to live in the US.  

To Kill A Mocking Bird 4/4/11

Author’s Note: This is the sumative piece for the book I just read called To Kill A Mocking Bird. In this piece I am working on adding opinion, proof read, and sentence structure. If you could give me some feedback, that would be great.


Do you ever wonder what the past was like? Yes, maybe you heard stories or seen movies, but you don’t actually know what it was like. This book describes it very well. If you read To Kill A Mocking Bird than you will know what the past was like.


First of all, this book takes place in Maycomb county in the 1930’s. Where there is still segregation. Though there was segregation it seems like some people were nicer to African American, than probably what most people think now. Yes, some people were really racist but other weren't like Atticus. He took Tom Robinson’s case though he knew he wasn’t going to win, because he had  a low chance of winning since he was against a racist jury. What is also stupid is that once Tom got to the jail he tried to run away, but the guards killed him. They said they were trying to wound him. Sure, when you try to wound someone you put 17 bullets into him. If it was a white man that would be a whole different story.



Later, Mr. Ewell was the father of Mayella. Mayella was the defendant to Tom Robinson’s case. Though Mayella won the case her father was still mad at Atticus for taking the case. Later in the book Jem and Scout were in the Halloween play and after Scout couldn’t find her dress and her shoes, so she and Jem were the last to leave and Scout had to leave barefoot and in her ham costume. The next part happened so fast, because it was pitch black in the forest and then Mr. Ewell snuck up and pushed them both to the ground. All that you know is that Jem is fighting Mr. Ewell. Then Mr. Ewell breaks Jem’s arm and he is out cold. Boo Radley came to save the day. The sheriff found that Mr. Ewell fell on his knife and that was the end of Mr. Ewell.
 

This book was great. For me it is really hard for me to get into books. There have only been 5 series that I really liked and this just made it 6. I would recommend this book to everyone no matter what genre of books that you like. This book really is a blast from the past (That sounds really geeky right).