Over spring break, I got to hang out with my friends, sleep in, and towards the end, go skiing. On Monday I hung out by myself, slept in, and watched Netflix all day. Tuesday, my friend Lucy came over and we had a sleepover. It was a lot of fun, we ordered Dominos. On Wednesday, I watched Netlix again for most of the day, and in the evening, went over to my friend Lauryn's house for a sleepover. We stayed up pretty late playing games and watching movies. Thursday I hung out by myself and packed, because the next day I was flying to Colorado. Friday I slept in (again) and at around 12 we headed to the airport.
We flew into Denver, and drove from there to Vail, the place we would be skiing. We ate dinner and walked around the town some. Me and my mom went down to the hotel pool. I love ski villages, because they're all really cute. The buildings are all different pastel colors, and there are lots of little shops. The next day, we got up, put our lift passes on, and got our skis. The only thing I hate about skiing is the boots. My dad put me on skis as soon as I could walk, but I still hate the boots. They're really stiff and hard to walk in, and after a while of walking in them your shins and heels and basically your whole leg from the knee down starts to hurt. Anyway, we skiied from about 9:30 to 2. The next day, we got up and did about the same thing. At 1ish we headed back to the airport, and flew home.
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1. One difference between Night and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is that in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, the main character is a German boy, and it does not focus mostly on the concentration camp or the Jews in it, but rather how Bruno's, the main character's, life is affected by it. In Night, the main character was a Jew, and they did not go into the Germans' lifestyle at all.
One similarity is that there seem to be conflicted characters in both. For example, in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Bruno's mother, and maybe even his father, don't completely agree with what the Nazis are doing. In Night, the dentist was very nice to Elie, and treated him with respect and kindness, unlike the soldiers at the camp. 2. In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, I thought Bruno's mother was an interesting character. She had dark hair and blue eyes, just like Bruno. She was very protective of her children, and would not let Bruno out of the front yard. She also seemed conflicted at the beginning, because her husband was a Nazi soldier, but she did not agree with what they were doing to the Jews. 3. At the beginning of this unit, I did not know that there were two types of concentration camps, death camps and labor camps. I thought the Nazis killed Jews as soon as they got there, and did not realize that they often had to go through months and even years of starvation, abuse, and extreme labor. 4. I liked The Boy in the Striped Pajamas more than Night. I enjoyed them both, but I think in the movie I could connect with the characters more. I could really understand their situation, and I think it made the whole thing more real for me. It was hard to realize that these things had really happened as I was reading the book, but it was easier seeing people actually act it out. Zoe Meaney
Pg. 75 Eliezer's father tells him to take his knife and spoon. He knows Eliezer will have to leave without him soon, so he tells him to take his knife and spoon. They are all he has left, and he wants to give him everything he can so Elie will have a better chance of surviving. (Words of the Wiser) Pg.110 A man tells Eliezer to leave his father behind because he is dragging Elie down. Elie is giving his father his rations of food, and the man thinks Chlomo is going to die soon anyway so there is no point in wasting your own rations. (Words of the Wiser) Pg. 112 Elie's father dies, but he is not sad, and cannot weep because he feels he is relieved of a burden. He is at war with himself because his father died and he wants to be sad, but he also has a better chance of surviving now. (Compare and Contrast) If I was the president of the United States, my first priority would be to prevent/slow down climate change. There is scientific evidence that our world's temperatures are increasing. Much of the reason for this is the pollution humans create by manufacturing, shipping, and using products. I would put laws in place to restrict how much Co2 factories are emitting, and how many goods are being shipped from Europe, Asia, etc.
Over winter break, I went to my grandparents house in Dubuque for Christmas. My cousins (Aine, Quinn, and Declan), came down from Minnesota. We had a great time hanging out and baking cookies. In our family, we always open one gift on Christmas Eve, and the rest on Christmas morning, so, we went to church, came back home, and each opened something. I got pajamas from my grandparents. The next morning, I got more clothes, and a ukulele.
Once we got back home, I spent a lot of time with my friend Shoshie. In 5th grade, she moved to Singapore. Last year she came back and went to Southeast for 2 trimesters, but then she moved back. She was visiting for winter break. We had lots of sleepovers, and since we both play ukulele, we had a lot of fun with that. Overall I had a great winter break. There are many rules to follow at home and at school, but my least favorite would have to be that I have to tell my parents where I am going, anytime I go anywhere.
I could see why this sounds reasonable; of course my parents want to know where I am! However, there is an app on my phone for this very purpose, and I usually go to the same place everyday after school, my friend's house. If they can already tell where I am, why should I get in trouble for getting caught up in a conversation and forgetting to send a text. Furthermore, they expect me to wait for a response before I go anywhere. I usually walk home with my friend, and we go straight to her house from school. I shouldn't have to wait at home for my parents, who both have full time jobs, to text me back in the middle of their busy schedules, before I can join my friend again. Now, I might understand where they were coming from if I was going halfway across town, but my friend lives on the same street as me. The furthest away I will ever go is less than a mile away from my house. If I can walk home in 10 minutes or less, why does it matter? I am fully capable of taking care of myself. I have my phone on me at all times if something were to happen (even though, this being Iowa City, it is very unlikely that something would). I am thankful for my friends and family. Without them, life would be boring. They are always there for me, and I can count on them to make me feel better. There's not much else to say about that, so I will move on to my other topic.
I am very thankful for peanut butter. It is delicious, creamy, and you can use it for many different things, such as on celery, apples, peanut butter cups, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, scotcheroos, peanut butter balls, peanut butter cookies, as well as plain on a spoon. One of my favorite snacks is peanut butter and chocolate chips on toast. Life would be bland without peanut butter. One time, my mom tried to buy almond butter instead. I was quick to tell her that, despite the health benefits, peanut butter is irreplaceable. My feelings about the election are that Hillary Clinton should have won. As it turned out, Donald Trump did. There are a few reasons I was not happy with the way it turned out. For one, Hillary would have been the first female president. How amazing would that have been? To go from women not even being allowed to vote, to voting for a woman?
That is not the only thing. Clinton has spent her entire career in politics. She has decades of experience. The one thing people use to complain about her is the email scandal, and even the FBI said there was nothing incriminating about it. Now, if we look at her opponent, Trump has no experience in politics, he has been a businessman his whole career. And on top of that, he has accusations of sexually assaulting women. Donald Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, has even said that he would like to go back to the 1950s idea of electrically shocking people out of being gay, lesbian, transgender, etc. Trump has made fun of a disabled person on television, and time and time again implied that people of color are not as capable as white people. So, here you have a very qualified individual, with a virtually clean record, versus a man who is disrespectful, bigotted, and inexperienced. Voting republican this year seems to mean voting to go back a few decades. But who do the American people choose? Trump of course. I keep imagining how this is going to affect women, people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, as well as other minorities. And I can't help but think it has something to do with the fact that Hillary is a woman. Even in 2016, people still have this underlying idea that men are somehow more capable than women, even when that woman is far more qualified for the job. What do you think of when someone says "You throw like a girl."? Chances are, it's negative. "Throw like a girl" is used to say "You're weak." or, "That was a terrible throw." Why is this? Why is doing things, "Like a girl" a bad thing? Many of the most influential and talented people in the world are girls. Examples include Michelle Obama, Angelina Jolie, J.K. Rowling, and Eleanor Roosevelt among many others. In the election this year, a woman is running for president. Girls have proved time and time again that we are just as capable as boys. So, why isn't doing things, "Like a girl" a compliment?
And this isn't just about an offensive phrase people throw around; according to the National Girls Collaborative Project, females make up just 29% of the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) workforce, despite equal achievement in K-12 STEM courses. The Women's Sports Foundation found that by the age of 14, girls are dropping out of sports at two times the rate that boys are. None of these things are because girls are any worse than boys, it is because of the underlying message that females are simply not as capable. We could be deprived of incredible athletes and scientists, just because society decided that boys could do those things better. So why not make, "Like a girl" a positive phrase? Imagine how humanity could be benefitted. |
AuthorJust an 8th grader trying to make it through middle school language arts Archives
March 2017
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