The Zombie Apocalypse

It was 8:45 in the morning. If I had it my way, I would still be asleep. I was in the middle of my big math exam. I zoned out and got lost in my thoughts when an announcement came over the loudspeakers. It was the principal telling us to go home and cling tight to your family, because soon--and then he shouted. I heard a rip and a scream of agony. There was a distinct thirst in the attacker's growl. I could tell it had finally happened--the zombie apocalypse. I live at the house just over the hill from the school. I grabbed my things and ran all the way home dodging bloodthirsty monsters my whole way. All I could think about was my sister and my dad. My mom had died when I was little, so they're all I had. I see my house. All of the windows are closed and the doors are shut. This gives me hope. That meant that my family was in there scared to death probably wondering where I was. Zombies from all over were tailing me on my way home. As they're coming toward me I jam open the door, then immediately turn around and lock it. The news is on. My dad's gun is on the table. My sister must have been trying to prepare herself for whatever was going to happen. I grab the gun and run to look for my family. I scream for my sister, but I realize that there's a slurping and grunting coming from her room. I burst in there with the gun loaded. One of those brain eating demons is hunched over my sister. Out of shock, I shoot he gun and barely hit his back. The zombie gets aggravated at the shot and turns around, but I shoot him straight in the forehead before he could to anything. Then I examine the face of the zombie. I see the face of my own father. He was slumped over her eating the brain of the person he gave life to. I had just shot my father. The two people I had left were both gone. It looked like I was on my own.

Writing Contest Reflection

When there is a large event or contest at our school I always wonder how just a couple people could plan something this spectacular and detailed. Now that I've organized a small contest like that, I know that it can be hard. I planned out a writing contest for all of the sixth graders at horizon. To make a successful contest I had to learn to advertise and organize cool prizes so the kids would want to participate. I went with Hannah to Horizon and we went from class to class explaining the contest. I have to admit, Hannah and I didn't really know what to say. We probably should have had a sheet of things we had to tell the kids, but we didn't think ahead. Some kids asked strange questions that we hadn't thought about and we got stuck. Some of the questions were "Can we submit drawings instead?" or "Can we work with a partner?". Then there were some awkward classes that didn't have any questions and were completely quiet. When I got back to Asa I had a lot of planning to do with coordinating prizes and talking to companies for donations. I called Moe's, Bubba's, the Chocolate Factory, Six Flags, Subway, Cousin's, Noodles, and Starbucks. Of those companies Moe's, Bubba's, and Noodles contributed to the writing contest. During those phone calls it was kind of awkward. Even though we had written out a script of what to say, I would always slur my words or talk too fast. I could never get it right. Now that the contest is over, I realize all of my mistakes, but I don't the think the contest could have gone any better. Everyone was super happy with the turnout. There were a lot of good pieces submitted and Hannah and I chose the right winners.

Speak Point of View

In Speak, the main character Melinda has called the cops at her first high school party because she had been assaulted by Andy Evans, and no one knew it. From then on she was socially shunned and proclaimed her as an outcast. The story is written in Melinda's point of view. From this perspective, a lot events and characters are described in a way that creates a darkly funny despair in the reader about Melinda being sexually abused. One way that Melinda's point of view influences the reader's interpretation is how this perspective shows how the incident happened. Of course it must have been scary for Melinda, especially since she was only 14. Reading from Melinda's point of view makes you feel bad for her. You're seeing other people through her eyes and the way she judges them. They could be completely different people than how she sees them. For example, Andy Evans is interpreted as a stuck up pig that only cares about how for he can get with girls, when the other guys look up to him as a cool guy that's good at sports and has a cool car. However, the reader would feel a lot differently about Andy Evans if the novel was written in the point of view of himself. For instance, Andy thought that Melinda wanted to do the things that he did to her. They were both drunk and he was disoriented. If the story were read in Andy's point of view, the reader might have even felt bad for Andy for being accused for the things he did. As you can see, the point of view of a story forces the reader to see just one side of an event or topic. In Speak, the narrator's perspective makes the reader see Andy as a worthless and disrespectful boy. Through Andy's eyes Melinda is an outcast that's nuts and overly obsessed with him. If the book Speak were in a different point of view, it wouldn't be the same book.

Scout Character Analysis

Imagine a stubborn little girl with mud smudged on her face, adventuring and discovering on a warm summer day. That's Scout. In the beginning of To Kill a Mockingbird I almost thought Scout was a boy. Scout always has a mischievous grin on her face, and is constantly up to something. She gets all of her boyish traits from her brother Jem. Since her mom died when she was young, all Scout has are her father, Atticus, and her brother Jem. However, she changes and grows a lot throughout the book. In her eyes there was a childish joy and innocence. Then there was a passion--a thirst for danger. After that came the dignity and poise of a lady. Scout evolved from a child to a dignified woman throughout this book. Aunt Alexandra urged Scout to grow up. That push made Scout more responsible. She learned how to control her mouth and not say the rude outbursts that always popped in her head. When Aunt Alexandria showed up on the Finch's doorstep the second thing she said was, "Jean Louise, stop scratching your head"(138). After she got settled in, Aunt Alexandria immediately started making changes in the way Scout and Jem were being raised. She didn't want Jem or Scout going to the trial, when they had been looking forward to it for quite some time. Aunt Alexandria also quarreled a lot with Atticus about his kids. This is because she always overstepped her boundaries and took control in situations that didn't require her assistance. Aunty often was strict like that towards Jem and Scout. Aunt Alexandra isn't the only one who changed Scout. Society itself did. Maycomb is full of stereotypical gossiping old ladies and strong-set men who follow in their father's footsteps. The expectation for Scout was to grow up to be a tea sipping, book reading woman who kept her thoughts to herself. That is the opposite of Scout, though. Scout loves to discover new things. She's a curious, nosy kid with an attitude. That doesn't fit into the Maycomb community very well. There was a point in time when Scout had to be shown what the real world was like and that was when she was about eight. She already knew the ways of the different families, but what she had to learn to squeeze into the mold of the traditional life of a woman in the South. Eventually, I think the effects of tradition and culture finally got to her, and she changed. Although Scout seems one of a kind, she has a lot of the characteristics that Katniss from The Hunger Games has. Scout and Katniss are both very stubborn. Scout wouldn't leave when Jem wanted her to, and she is always willing to fight over it. Katniss wouldn't quit during the Games. She fought to the death, and took another person out with her alive. They are also very loving toward their siblings. Katniss volunteered to take Prim's place in the Hunger Games,and Scout made up with Jem right after their brawl when they heard their dad and Aunt talking. I think it's clear that Scout and Katniss are very alike. In conclusion, I think we learned a lot from Scout. Although she was stubborn, she always got her point across, and I think she made the Maycomb society think differently about people and their way of living. This stubborn little girl had an impact on everyone.

Literacy Mondays

Studies show that reading makes kids smarter. It's no wonder that all teachers love it when kids read. At every school the teachers encourage reading. Everyone knows that. So at my school the teachers have required every kid in the school to read on Monday during resource, instead of getting our homework done. However, this policy does not allow students like me to be the best we can be. Aren't Mondays bad enough? I like to usually get work done on Mondays. On Fridays teacher assign homework and say we can do it over the weekend, but let's be honest-- we barely do any homework on weekends. That homework that's assigned is due on Tuesday, so I often times like to get it done during resource on Mondays. We middle school students are given lots of homework, and now the teachers want to take away our time to do it. Lots of kids rely on resource to get some work done because various sports and clubs take up most of their after-school time. If kids have their work done and they want to read, they may. That's a pre-established rule in resource. So why isn't the school allowing kids to get their work done? Honestly, I love language arts. I feel like it lets me express myself in creative ways. When I come in I know I'm ready to start learning and working on my most recent projects, but before that we get a nice refresher on a book we've been reading. We spend a half hour reading every day, so I don't think we need an hour straight of reading when we need to get work done. In my opinion, Literacy Mondays are completely redundant. We read about 30 minutes a day in language arts, we read after we finish a test, and we read at least six books per school year. Enforcing reading is pushing kids away. If teachers keep doing this, kids will stop reading and their education will suffer.

Gym Essay

Obesity is a huge battle that lots of people are fighting in our country. Even kids struggle with their weight these days. As cities get bigger, people work longer hours, and a well balanced home-cooked meal can be harder to find. And since lots of people don't have time to cook a meal, they often don't work out. This is why physical education is important to me. Kids need to learn how to get active in this day and age. When people thought of kids they used to think of a playground, or a neighborhood game of kickball. Now when they think of kids they think of iPods, rotten music, and video games. These days kids get more screen time than sunlight. Physical education teaches us to put down the controller and get active. In gym we do lots to make sure we stay active like activity logs and fitness testing. To think some schools have gotten rid of gym is unbearable. As times have changed, gym classes have changed along with them. Physical education used to be about learning how to play a sport, and then running. Now in gym we learn about the nutritional value of food, human growth and development, and the harms of tobacco and other drugs. I have learned so much in class, especially in the tobacco unit. If we didn't learn about that, I bet a lot of kids would have picked up that cigarette, or given into peer pressure. So, why is gym important to me? Gym is important to me because it has taught me lots of life lessons that I will take with me through high school, college, and even after college. Kids learn a lot in gym. It's a part of growing up. With this battle of obesity in our country, I think gym is more important than ever.

Firework Figurative Language

Music can mean many things to a lot of people. It can change your emotion in an instant. Most of that is due to the lyrics. Most of the time people will base their favorite song on how they can relate to the lyrics. When artists add figurative language to their songs it adds meaning and it makes the song easier to follow. One song with a lot of figurative language is "Firework" by Katy Perry. The song starts out with a simile. Katy sings, "Do you ever feel like a plastic bag drifting through the wind, wanting to start again? Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?". When she sings this she means at one point have you ever felt so fragile and thin? Have you ever wondered if you could just start over instead of crumbling and breaking down? With this simile it helps Katy get her point across and paint a picture into the listener's head with imagery. In the refrain Katy sings, "Baby, you're a firework. Come on, show 'em what you're worth. Make 'em go 'Oh, oh, oh' as you shoot across the sky-y-y". These sentences represent metaphors. A metaphor is a simile without like or as, so when Katy calls you a firework she doesn't literally mean you are a firework. By saying that she probably means that you are inspiring and beautiful to everyone around you, so you should let your true colors show. In the bridge the lyrics say "After a hurricane comes a rainbow. Maybe a reason why all the doors are closed so you could open one that leads you to the perfect road". In these couple of lines Katy is using symbolism. Although it may be true that a rainbow comes after a hurricane, in this case the hurricane represents bad times in life, and the rainbow is showing that the problem will get better. In the next sentence the door symbolizes opportunity or possibilities, and when those doors close she means that those opportunities are gone, but the one that you that is left is the one that will be perfect for you. Symbolism was a great choice of figurative language in this song. Many authors and music artists use figurative language to creatively get their point across and engage the reader/listener. I'm glad that they do this because it makes the lyrics memorable and adds meaning. Katy's inspiring song "Firework" has been brought alive by figurative language, and it wouldn't be the same without it.