News Article

     An article called ''Autistic teen reunites with dog 5 years later" from the website News4jax was published on December fifteen, and the publisher is not named. Chance Morgan, an autistic teen, reunited with his husky five years after it went missing. He found his dog Bleu on Thursday, and the dog was his best friend. A family in Macclenny had found the dog and took him home and put it up for adoption. When Bleu was taken to the vet, they found a microchip and they found out it belonged to Chance's family in Lake City. His mother said they got the dog to be therapeutic to their son, and she always prayed to find the dog. His mother said that the day before they found Bleu, she had bought her son another dog, so they now have two dogs. Chance said it was his Christmas miracle.

    This article is a great article about hope and miracles. The dog was gone for five years, and God saved him from death. He was taken in from a great family, who gave him the love until Chance was reunited with him again. It is a great feeling to be reunited with someone you love, even if it is just an animal. Miracles are possible if you hold them true to your heart.

''The Fall of the House of Usher''

     In the short story '' The Fall of the House of Usher'', written by Edgar Allan Poe, there are many psychological aspects being added to make it more Gothic. The description of the exterior and interior of the house already gives hint about the story's plot and ending. The outside of the house is very dark, scary, old, and gothic. The eye-like windows give a sense of sadness and fear to the house. The house is being compared to a sad face, and that foreshadows a deep sadness coming his way. The house compares to the Usher family, because just like the house has many problems, the Usher family is all intermarried, and thus have many genetic and psychological problems.The inside of the house is also sad, because all the furniture is torn, and it gives a sad vibe.
     The house affects Roderick as well. His mind is full of vivid details filled with sadness and misery. There are also fissures in the house that make it feel like the house will collapse at any time. Another psychological effect is the sister's ''death", and Usher's psychological problems that come along with it. Usher feels a presence in the room that the sister is still alive, and hear loud thunderstorms. The sister was Usher's twin, so they had a strong connection, and it affected him too.
    Edgar Allan Poe is a great Gothic writer, because he adds suspense and thrill in every paragraph. He does not tell the reader what is going to happen quickly, but he slowly drives the reader into a vivid imagination. He made the ending very suspenseful and scary.

Newspaper Article #7

     The article called "Man sentenced to six years for shooting at neighbor's barking dog" was published by Esmeralda Bermudez on December 9,2011. It talks about a Baldwin park man who shot his neighbor's dog for barking in front of a seven year old girl. It happened on May 25,2011 when a little girl was playing with her dog named Smalls outside their house. Carleton States taunted the dog until it started barking and told the girl to go inside her house and then shot the dog. The dog ran into the house after the girl, and he followed the two of them into the house, and threatened to shoot the little girl who was holding the dog in her lap. He was accused of child abuse, using a firearm, and shooting.
     This article was sick. There is no reason to shoot a dog for no reason. The little girl was out enjoying a day with her small dog when this psycho neighbor came and taunted the dog. He might have been a pedophile and was after the girl, and used the dog as a way to get her. I do not really what to say about this article except that it was the stupidest reason to use a gun.

"The Raven"

     "The Raven" was written by Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar wrote the poem in a gothic way, since he was known for his mysterious, scary, and frightening tone. Gothic literature was common during his era, and it consisted of four main aspects. The aspects were: Set in a bleak and remote place;characters are in a psychological/physical torment; a supernatural element has to be present;plot involves macabre, or violent incidents. Gothic literature would not be called gothic if it did not consist of these aspects.
     The setting of "The Raven" was in a humongous house, during December, at midnight. It was set in a bleak place, so it has an aspect of the Gothic literature. Violent incidents were not common in the poem, but it can give hints to what happened to Lenore, and what he wanted to do to the bird since it was annoying him. The macabre can be symbolized by the raven itself, because it was dark and scary. Psychological torment means when a soul or a mind is troubled, like the narrators. He was having problems with accepting the fact that Lenore is gone. The narrator actually believes that the raven is speaking to him and trying to tell him something important. The mysterious events that happened in "The Raven" include the stuffiness of the room, the narrator thinking there are ghosts in it, and him trying to think nothing is wrong. The bird, for the narrator, was a way of trying to turn him away from Lenore, and all the thoughts he had about her. He had lost Lenore, and was in utter grief. When he asks the raven if he will ever see Lenore in Heaven, the bird responds "Nevermore", and that drives him crazy. The ending ended with him full of sorrow that the bird never leaves, and the shadow of sorrow that will never leave.

Newspaper Article #6

     I found a news article on LA Times website, and found it quite interesting. The article is called, "OC hockey mom charged with having sex with teen players." It was published on December 2, by Richard Winton. Kathia Davis is a forty- four year old mother of three, who is divorced, and molested a thirteen year old boy on her son's hockey team. She also had unlawful sex with a sixteen year old boy from her son's hockey team too. She threw parties for them and offered the two boys alcoholic beverages. Davis had offered the thirteen year old boy to drink in her presence and fondled with him a little bit. Apparently, the sixteen year old boy went to her house in Laguna Niguel and Davis had sex with him four times in her own bedroom. The sixteen year old boy told his parents about his sexual relationship with Davis, and his parents alarmed the Orange County Sheriff Department. She had in total six felonies. If she gets convicted, she will spend twelve years and eight months in prison.
     This article made me gag the whole time I was reading it. It is disgusting and wrong. It is related to "Scarlet Letter" because it deals with adultery, but she is actually divorced. In my opinion, this girl was desparate enough to sleep with a sixteen year old teenager, but she deserves to go to jail for twelve years.

Favorite part of Scarlet Letter

     I have read many books for school, which were not interesting whatsoever, but the "Scarlet Letter' was the best one yet. It actually had a message in the story, and gave many foreshadows and ironies throughout the novel. My favorite part out of the whole novel would have to be the ending because it tied the whole story up. The ending was not what many people would have thought it would be, but Dimmesdale's death was significant. He died from his wound, the letter A, which was a sign of his guilt and he kept getting sicker and sicker because of that. When he was dying, Pearl kissed his hand, proving that she knew that he was her father all along, but had some doubts about it. Pearl finally got her question answered that had made her so sinister like, the identity of her father.
    The ending was kind of a closure for Dimmesdale, since the crowd knew about his affair, his child, and his suffering. Pearl had finally recognized him as her father, Hester and him were allowed to show their affection in public, and he escaped his suffering with the truth.

Dimmesdale or Chillingworth?

    There is no doubt to saying that both Chillingworth and Dimmesdale are having emotional traumas in their life during those critical years. The one that i sympathize with would have to be, of course, Mr. Dimmesdale, because of his one mistake he had to suffer seven years of torture by Mr Chillingworth who found out he was the man who had an affair with her wife. Hester Prynne did commit adultery with Mr. Dimmesdale, but Mr. Chillingworth moved on, while Dimmesdale had to suffer and slowly die from his guilt. Chillingworth had also sinned,with revenge and  by making Hester lie to Dimmesdale and make him get tortured for seven years. "Hester Prynne was now fully sensible of the deep injury for which she was responsible to this unhappy man, in permitting him to lie for so many years, or, indeed, for a single moment, at the mercy of one, whose purposes could not be other than malevolent"(Hawthorne 159). This quote talks about Hester's guilt in keeping Chillingworth's identity a secret, which gave rise to the torture and brutal suffering that Dimmesdale was facing because of it. Dimmesdale constantly got hurt, inside and out, because of sins and guilt.

The Scarlet Letter

     The Scarlet Letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne during the American Romantic Era, after he found a manuscript that sparked his writing capability. The ideas that were occuring during that era were prominent in Hawthorne's novel. An example of his incorporation was the description of the prison door. "Like all that pertains to crime, it seemed never to have know a youthful era"(Hawthorne 43). This example is a great interpretation of that era, by saying the door is scary, old, and gloomy. The description of the prison door was a moreover a theme that will be present in the rest of the novel, and shows the gothic behind it.
     In chapter 3 of The Scarlet Letter, another example of the Romantic era can be found. "The penalty therefore is death. But in their great mercy and tenderness of heart, they have doomed Mistress Prynne to stand only at a space of three hours on the platform of pillory, and then and therefore, for the remainder of her natural life, to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom"(Hawthorne 57). Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts the shamefulness of Hester Prynne, and how she will be marked forever. The letter A, will be branded on her until she dies. The darkness and gothic depictions of the shame and agony that the woman will go through, show many aspects of the American Romantic era.She was shunned from society, and the everything around her became darkness and gothic, just like the American Romantic era.

News Article

     The news article, "Woman held in death of baby found hidden at Christian school" was written by Shasta County Sheriff Department on November 9 2011. It talks about a woman named Jessica Nicole Bradford, age twenty-three, was suspected of killing her newborn child by not feeding the infant. The baby was born September 19, and died four days later. When she was being questioned by the sheriff department, she said she neglected giving the infant food. She attended court on Wednesday, but did not enter a plea without a public defender. It was mentioned that she had hidden the baby's body in a laundry basket at Julian Youth Academy, which was a Christian boarding school for troubled teenagers where she worked. The poor infant's body was found six weeks after it was hid by a teacher. Bradford had mentioned in her statement that she did not give the baby a name, and therefore had no attachment to it. It was later confirmed that she had kept her pregnancy a secret from her three year long boyfriend to not ruin their lives.
    This article made me upset. How can a mother do that to her own child? This article is meant to show us that people are cruel, and there are many people in the world who neglect their own children for their own personal benefits. She "killed" the baby, so she can live a more happier life without having to deal with an infant ruining her and her boyfriend's life. I think she needs to go to jail for indirect murder, and enjoy her life all alone in a jail cell.

Seven Deadly Sins- Wrath

     There are seven deadly sins mentioned inside the Bible. The sin that I may have encountered a couple times during my life would have to be "wrath". There are times when I get extremely angry at people, and try to seek revenge, but that is not who I am. It just naturally happens. Wrath also means violence and destruction, but I have not encountered any of those yet. I get extremely angry, real quickly. There are days that I am very impatient, and my anger fills up to a point where I can not resist myself, and become selfish. If I was branded like  Hester in the novel, I would be dissapointed with myself. Being called a name can bring your confidence down, and affect most of your life. So, if I had to wear the letter "W" on my chest, then I would rather never go out in the public ever again. Even though it is not as bad as adultery, it is something that can affect my daily presence to the public and crush my confidence.

"My Dear and Loving Husband"

    Anne Bradstreet is the speaker of this lovely poem. The poem was not written in the modern times, but during the Puritan times. The occasion of the poem is based on Puritan times. Every sentence of the poem was filled with undying love toward her husband, and she showed him her gratefulness towards him. The tone is very romantic, emotional, loving, and personal.
    During the Puritan times, speaking about emotions was uncommon, and she was going against it by demonstrating her strong and undying emotions toward her husband.She had gone against then Puritan literature, but to her, her husband was more important. She gives many similes and examples of how happy she is to be his wife. They are united, and no aspect in the world can change that for her. She tells that she is the happiest woman alive and is lucky to have such a great husband. She clearly says that no amount of money can change her feelings and devotion to her husband, because money can be gained, but if you lose a loving husband, another is hard to find.

News Article #4

     The following article could be found on La Times. It is called "Aspirin cuts colon cancer rate in high-risk patients" and is published by Eryn Brown on October 27 2011. It says that patients with a genetic condition that increases their risk of colon or other cancers took Aspirin, and that made them colon cancerless. Lynch Syndrome, causes an increased chance of developing colon or other types of cancers. Research was done, and the one's that took the placebo, had higher chances of getting colon cancer, about 34 cases. Their research studies were based on experiments on the people, and that will help them do more investigations which will lead to a more detailed overview of Lynch Syndrome connected with Aspirin intake.
     I feel this is a good way to further the research done on cancers. Aspirin, is a daily intake of most people, and those with a higher chance of getting cancer should take a more vast amount, if otherwise noted not to.

Soapst MLK letter from Birmingham Jail

     Martin Luther King Jr. is the speaker in this letter. It was written on April 16,1963 from the Birmingham City Jail. He was outraged from a newspaper article about eight clergyman calling him names and insults. His audience is directed to the writer or the article, and if we refer to ourselves, then also the people as well. The article in simple words was defending the whites and their actions. They supported the immoral doings of the whites toward the blacks. King believed that violence is never the answer, but the result can always be reached with protest and fighting for freedom. The purpose of his letter was civil rights and freedom. During the whole letter his tone was calm, encouraging, emotional, and heartfelt. He described the inhumane and immoral doings of the police department toward the Negroes and how no one came and helped them. He is fighting for justice, because in his time immoral doings were hidden by moral "doings".

News Article #3

    As I was browsing through articles, I found one on New York Daily News, called "Westchester lawyer Sam Friedlander killed wife,kids,before shooting himself in murder-suicide." This was the only article that caught my eye. It was posted by Matthew Lysiak and Tracy Connor on October 19,2011. Samuel Friedlander, a lawyer, was in a bitter divorce with his wife, Amy. He killed his ten year old daughter,Molly, and his eight year old son, Gregory and tucked them back into bed. He also used a chair to kill his wife, who was only forty six years of age. After he murdered his family, he went to the basement, and shot himself with a Remington 870. Police interviewed many of their friends, and a couple of them had said that the marriage started off rocky, and never got better. Also, Amy's family never liked Samuel Friedlander. Samuel had felt that Amy was trying to take custody of the children, and making the kids hate him. The father had mental problems during that week, and many said that it was his "body" that did the killing, and not him. Police came and found the four dead bodies.
     This article made me emotional. I understand that a divorce is hard to get through, but that is no reason to kill a family. In my opinion, I think he killed the children because he did not want them to hate him after he kills his wife, which he intended to do. It might be true that he had psychological problems during that tough time, and that could have caused the murder-suicide. I do feel bad for the wife, because she went through life, worked hard, attended colleges, had kids and a successful business, and died at the age of forty six. I take the side of the wife, because she had maybe dealt with numerous problems and at one point wanted a divorce. His idea of ending a divorce, was ending a wonderful family. Killing is never an option, because people have one life to live.

Speech Presentation

     During the past week or so, Mrs Kirkman had assigned a speech to every classmate. Each time a new person got ready to present, the more I liked them all. They all did a great job, but the one that caught my attention the most was done by Gareen and Patil. They talked about Hilary Clinton's speech on women's rights, and since I am a woman it relates to me more than the male population. What caught my attention the most, was the presentation itself. It was done in such a informative yet simple way, getting right to the point.
     The main reason I enjoyed this speech the most, was because it talked about women suffering throughout years and decades, and how they were brave throughout all of it.Hilary Clinton had mentioned specific points about women being abused by their own parents and relatives, and how they were being excluded from "male" activities.Women are sensitive, and are scared to fight back. Hilary Clinton proved to the world that women have a say in everything, and her speech mentioned all the emotions and feelings that most women might feel. Women should be treated equally, and never one bit less.

My Five Virtues

     Over the past couple days, I have examined my daily life. I took a notice on all my weaknesses and the small pieces I had to put back into place, and slowly make them flawless. The five virtues I needed to work on were; preserverance, sincerity, order, tolerance, and confidence. All of the following virtues have different meanings, and thus have to be achieved in different ways.
     My first virtue is preserverance, the act of never giving up. Giving up is common among teenagers, and we need to stick to our decisions and try to achieve the impossible.
Being sincere, as in being honest, is important for every human being. Honesty is the key that opens up many doors, and if people continue to be liars, then people will not look at them how they want to be looked at.
Order is important to me, and I need to work on that, because organization is the key to success. I need to be organized, and not a cluttery mess. If our life is in an orderly fashion, it will be easier to progress on a daily basis, and have no need to look back on and find those missing "pieces". Tolerance is another important virtue, because I need to be more tolerable toward others, and respect their opinions on certain topics. Being tolerant is a key to maintaining a healthy lifespan, and it will make us better individuals.
Confidence is the most important virtue in my opinion. It is the one thing I am deprived of the most. Confidence is what gives a person pride and dignity, and I always doubt myself and most of the time not believe in my own decisions or guidelines. I need to be more proud of who I am, and stand high and mighty.
     The virtue I had the most trouble with was preserverance. The act of never giving up is pretty hard to me. During the past two days I tried to stick to a scheduled routine of finishing my homework as soon as I got home, but I lagged it because it was too difficult. I need to just keep trying harder, until I finish what has to be done and not give up.

"Straw Into Gold"

     The speaker of this specific autobiography is Sandra Cisneros. She is writing about her life and all the achievements and struggles she encountered during it. Her introduction was quite fanatic.She shows how harsh her childhood was, and the difficulties of being a Spanish woman. She was not that rich, and was surviving off educational grants, which were used mainly for researh and education. One example that she gave about her success, was when she was invited someplace and had to make corn tortillas. Even though she was raised not knowing how to cook any Mexican food, she tried her best and succeeded, because she did not give up on herself.

     According to her thoughts, she was not normal in her family. She had inherited her intelligence from her mother, and her sappy heart from her father. It was important for a Mexican woman to get married first and then leave her parent's house, but she left before any of her brothers did. She wanted to chase her dreams, and follow her career, and that made her who she is now. Even though her life included dreadly aspects, like poverty, it made her stronger and more willful. Her parents were still important to her, because without them she could not have reached the peak of where she stands today. She became the leader of her own life, and made her own decisions, without pushing everybody aside. Impossible is just a word you say when you have given up on what you should be following the most. She took a chance and made it.

Benjamin Franklin Autobiography

     Benjamin Franklin wrote an autobiography of his life, his accomplishments,and all the decisions he made. It discusses his lifespan, ideas, and goals he wanted to accomplish.The part we read in class was when he was seventeen years old in 1723. The portion talks about how he wants to achieve "moral perfection" and tries to be as perfect as he can be. He wrote this autobiography to show his readers his true personality and what he really thinks and feels about certain aspects. Benjamin Franklin's tone is descriptive, practical, and descriptive. Benjamin's main goal was to show people that they have to do tasks which can lead to moral perfection.
     Franklin had made a chart, and it had different categories, or the thirteen virtues. Every day he would work on perfectecting one of the virtues, and if he accomplished it he would transfer on to the next category. Examples of his virtues are humility, silence, and tranquility. Benjamin Franklin wanted to achieve at his best, and every morning he would ask himself what he would achieve today, and he would answer his question at the end of the day. He did not succeed with it completely, because it is difficult to multitask, but he did become a happier person.

Lebanon

     If I can travel anyplace in the world, it would have to be Beirut,Lebanon. The reason behind this, is because both my parents are from Lebanon, and the stories I have heard about the beauty and landscape of the country amazes me. I have been wanting to go to Lebanon for so long, but because of a tragedy it is hard for my mother to travel there again. When she was just twelve years of age, her father died from a bullet to his heart, and that scarred her for life. The stories she has told me about the waters,trees, and shops, just make it sound so wonderful, that I can not help but ask her to go. I love, love, love, the simplicity of this place, but the history behind it also sparks my interest into travelling there one day. Who does not want to go to a place where generations of your family have lived and loved? Who does not want to experience the life of their parents back when they were children in their own hometown? I could have easily chosen Europe, Spain, or Jamaica, but my heart has always longed to go to the place where my family grew up, and thrived.  I will see Lebanon , and I will fall in love. Beauty does not only rest on physical aspects of a country, but also the history behind it. Lebanon, to me, is a place full of hopes and dreams, reborn into a different era, but has the same sentimental meaning. I pray that one day I will accomplish my dream, and set foot on the land that we call Lebanon.

"Speech in the Convention"

     The speech I chose to talk about this week is "Speech in the Convention". It takes place in the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The speaker in the speech is Benjamin Franklin, who was trying to emphasize to the audience the importance of having a constitution. He talks in a persuasive and calm manner. The audience he was trying to reach were the colonial representatives, who had come from the thirteen colonies to hear such an amazing speech that can change their lives. The purpose of his speech was to persuade the representatives to be uniform, and stick together, not drift in different directions. He wanted the people to have rights and follow them in a orderly way.His tone during the speech was calm, reasonable, and logical.
     His speech was not just an ordinary speech. He used a method called rhetorical devices, in which he got to emphasize the important parts in a different way. His speech included many rheotorical questions, where the audience was asked with a question but given the answer. The audience at that moment, was thinking about the question without even suspecting that Benjamin had already given them the answer. Franklin also compares the audience to instruments, because the audience can echo the information they hear, and for the Constitution to work, they have to be unanimous and united. Benjamin Franklin's main purpose of the speech was to persuade and inform the colonial representatives what the constitution was about, and what they had to do to get it passed and well administered.

My Favorite Ice Cream

   Everyone in the world loves ice cream! I do not know one person who does not love ice cream. It is a way to cool down after a hot summer day, or just to fulfill your sweet tooth. People's choices for flavor will differ, because people do not always have the same taste in food. My all time favorite ice cream flavor would have to be Smores. The reason why I love it, is because it tastes exactly how a real smore should taste. I love to go camping and make smores, but when I am at home and crave those delicious fire roasted marshmallows and chocolate, I just open my freezer, and eat as much as I want. I love, love, love, Smores ice cream. The taste makes my mouth water, and if you close your eyes, it feels as if you are at a campsite, eating real smores. I am in love with smores ice cream. I am fond of many other flavors, but this particular one hits me everytime. It takes me to that moment where I am surrounded by friends around a campfire, and making smores. Will I ever get enough of this ice cream? Smores is the choice to go when you are at a supermarket just starring into a cold freezer. I guarantee it will make you fall in love all over again!

News Article #2

    I recently visited CNN.com and was immediately drawn to the article by Michael Martinez, that read "Father charged with abuse for treatment of son on harbor cruise." This article was about a man named Sloan Briles who was on a cruise with his two sons and his girlfriend. Sloan, the father, was in a argument with his girlfriend, and his son, age of seven, started crying. The father started poking the child, and threatening him, and saying that if he does not stop crying he will be thown off the boat. His father was under the influence of alcohol, and that mainly caused his reckless behavior. He continuously slapped the boy and threw him ten feet overboard. Thankfully, another tour boat was there to rescue the innocent seven year old boy. The father had jumped to "rescue" his son, but the boat had already done the job.
    Sloan Steven Briles was arrested by the Orange County Sheriff's Department for child abuse and misdemeanor for resisting an officer. When the police started to question him, he denied it all by saying, "We were having fun, it was a harbor cruise!" If he is charged for both child abuse and misdemeanor, he will have a maximum of six years in prison. This article shows how far alcohol can go, and what consequences it can lead to. An innocent seven year old boy would have been dead, but God saved him, because it was his father who messed up. Parents nowadays have to be protecting their children and acting as good role models when they are around their kids, not acting like childish teenagers at parties. Justice should be served, and he deserves to go to jail.

'Mission Update"

     During the past week, we read a blog called "Misson Update". The speaker of the blog was Steven Squyres, an astronaut in space. He mainly blogged about what he was seeing and experiencing. The blog takes place in 2006, during the landing of the rover "Opportunity" on Mars.
     The speaker, Steven, writes to an audience that includes the entire world. People all over the world would love to find out more information about Mars and become fascinated by it. His main purpose was to inform the audience and attract them to Mars, and finding out more information about it. The subject of the blog is life on Mars, and the landing of Opportunity, the rover.
   Steven's main points in writing this blog were to show his emotions and feelings toward what he was experiencing, instead of doing it for the money and selfish benefits. He was utterly excited about the landing of Opportunity, and that is a focal point in his blog. Squyres gives the audience a sense of excitement, and tries to encourage them to learn more about life on other planets. The way he talks about the view and surroundings of Mars, the more the audience wants to be in his shoes. The speaker was strucken by Mars' beauty.

"A Journey Through Texas" SOAPST

   "A Journey Through Texas", written by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, is a personal narrative piece of literature that he wrote for the king and queen of Spain. Cabeza de Vaca, the speaker, joined by three other coutrymen travel from Texas to the Spanish settlement in New Mexico in 1528. He was given this oppurtunity by the Queen of Spain, and they would pay him in return for knowledge about the lands. He narrates the story in a first person perspective, allowing the audience to visualize the experiences he had encountered on his journey. The usage of imagery in the story, helps the reader grasp the detailed aspects of the trip, and picture themselves in their shoes. The story is also in chronological order, meaning that the storyline goes step by step. Cabeza wrote it as if he were writing a diary or a journal entry, because he expressed his own opinions on the problems and experiences he saw and lived by.
  Cabeza de Vaca's purpose of the story was to inform the readers about the experiences he had, and all the new concepts and ideas he had discovered. He wanted to also inform the people who wanted to settle there and make contact with the tribes. By writing about the tribes and new discoveries, he was trying to persuade and inspire other explorers to join him on the journey to finding new lands. Another purpose was money and wealth. The Queen of Spain offered him money if he took on the journey to bring back information and knowledge. His purpose was to give his own voice, or opinion, on the first hand events that occured throughout the time of his journey. Cabeza writes in such an honest way, that the reader can visualize themselves on the journey.
  The tone of the piece begins off being descriptive and quite detailed. He flourishes the audience with imagery and helps them gain  knowledge of what life was in anothers perspective. His informative narration gives an insight to his own life, thus, giving us more background information about who or what he is. The tone later on changes to anger,when a few of the tribes are not friendly, and he had to find a way to manipulate them.
His depictions of the tribes, events, and food, show that he truly wanted to explore the land. Cabeza also studied their religion, because Spain was also religious, and that would look better to them. Cabeza at the end, changed the tone to happiness, when they find squash and eat it together.

News Article

I recently visited the Los Angeles Times website, and found one particular article that caught my eye. The article is called "Exercise in hot weather is OK for kids-with precautions". It was written by Shari Roan for the Los Angeles Times on August 8, 2011, featuring the booster shots blog. Exercise is needed for  human beings but mostly for kids. Kids and adults need exercise to live their lives in a healthy and fit way, but sometimes the weather can affect that perfomance. The article talked more about how hot weather can put serious dangers to childrens' and adults lives. Heat can cause death if there are no limits to being outside, or poor acts of hydration and proper exertion. "Most healthy children and adolescents can safely participate in outdoor sports and other physical activities through a wide range of challenging warm to hot climactic conditions," wrote the authors of a new policy statement.
The article stresses the importance of looking at  kids in a different way. Not all the kids are the same in physical characteristics, and because of obesity rates in the United States, the children must be monitored when having fun in the sun. Heat illnesses can be caused by many factors such as; lack of hydration, poor exertion, not enough breaks, and wrong types of clothing and equipment needed for that event. Today, coaches and supervisors want kids to be on the same level when it comes to sporting events, but they have to keep in mind that people are different, and each of their needs must be taken seriously. They need to realize that an obese child can not perform the same way as a fit 12 year old,under the blazing sun. This article caught my attention because, it happens quite often in schools and major sporting events, and people, kids or adults, can have heat strokes and those can end in death. We have to keep in mind that not all kids
can act the same way under certain conditions, and we have to understand, and help them feel comfortable but most importantly, keep them safe.

MY FAVORITE BOOK

     I have read numerous books throughout my lifetime. Books are a great way to escape the world, and live through someone else's perspective. My favorite book of all time would have to be Before I Die by Jenny Downham. It is about a 17 year old teenager, Tessa, who is dying with leukemia. She lives with her brother and father, and gets to see her estranged mother once in a while. Tessa had made a list of  things she wanted to do before she died. Most of the things on her list were foolish and immensely dangerous. Tessa's father wanted to protect her from the things she was doing, mainly drugs and sex, but she wanted to live her last moments on Earth doing what she wanted. She wanted to experience the rush of any adventure that came to her head, and she wanted to conquer every task before cancer beat her to it. Tessa did not want to be depressed and lay in bed all day because her life was going to end, but she made a journey to the innevitable. Her life started to get better, and her parents started getting closer and closer. The boy next door took an interest in her, but deep in her heart she wanted to stay and watch the happiness rise into the air like a balloon. She accepted death and tried to live in the moment. This book was the most heart-breaking and real book I have ever read, and it taught me a major lesson about life. We all have to live in the moment, and do the best we can, because life can end before "life" can actually begin. Tessa was a brave teenager, who embraced the real meaning of life and love. At the end, her life slowly slips away, but she died knowing that she was ready to be sent to the heavens of the world. This book teaches teenagers a lesson, to never look down on life, because it is the only one you have. Cherish life to the last minute, and when it is your time, leave as if you just arrived. Fulfilled. Strong. Reaching your dreams.