Butterfly Project

"Forgotten"

You Wanton, quiet memory that haunts me all the while
In order to remind me of her who love I send
Perhaps when you caress me sweetly, I will smile
You are my confidante today, my very dearest friend.

You sweet rememberance, tell a fairy tale
About my girl who's lost and gone, you see.
Tell, tell the one about the golden grail
And call the swallow, bring her back to me.

Fly somewhere bald to her and ask her, soft and low,
If she thinks of me sometimes with love.
If she is well and ask her, too, before you go
If I am still her dearest, precious dove.

And hurry back, don't lose your way,
So I can think of other things,
But you were too lovely, perhaps, to stay.
I loved you once. Good-bye, my love

Anonymous

I commented on:
Dena's blog
Selena's blog
Antwone's blog
Israel's blog
Vince's blog

Berlin Memorial Blog

During our lesson going over what laws the Jews were given during the Holocaust, I learned a lot. What I learned was that there were numerous laws specifically given to all the Jews during Hitler's leadership. Of course, every country in the world has their own laws to keep everyone within the country in line and civil. For Nazi Germany, the Jews unfortunately had their own set of rules they were required to follow. Before learning about these laws, I didn't have any sort of clue as to how many laws the Nazis could possibly make up just to ruin these people's lives. Once I took a good long look every single card on the classroom walls, I realized there were a lot of them. I had no idea the Jews had to live by all these rules when Hitler was leading Germany. Hitler really wanted to take the Jews livelihood and freedoms everyone should have. To make things less consistent, Hitler didn't enforce a large number of laws every year. This still doesn't change the fact that Hitler truly wanted to try and make the Jews lives worse and worse.

Of course, any memorial is created to help people forever remember what had happened that created the memorial. For example, the memorial in Berlin was created to help Germany remember the terrible things that happened during the Holocaust. The Holocaust was one of those terrible events people just can't and should never forget. Not just people in Germany, but everyone around the globe. It doesn't matter it you lived through the Holocaust or had just learned about it. The Holocaust was part of our history. If you think about it, the memorial was created to show the mistakes our countries made that created this mess. America did have some involvement with the Holocaust. If only our country allowed the incoming Jewish refugees that were trying to escape from Germany enter our country, maybe things would have been different. This memorial in particular I feel was created not only for remembrance, but to show flaws within our countries decisions. Memorials can have other purposes for being created. I believe the Berlin Memorial had multiple meanings for its establishment.

What I noticed about the number of laws passed by the Nazis was how demanding they were and how strict they were. What really put me in awe was not just how strict the laws were, but for how discrete some of them were. I clearly saw how much Hitler wanted to make these people's lives as miserable as possible. There was literally a law for not allowing Jews to purchase books in 1942. Think of a society without any sort of literature. That law alone would really create drastic changes within how we basically live. Of course, a society without books would be very "unique," but wouldn't be the end of the world. A law that's even more worse then that were the laws enforcing Jews not to purchase certain foods/drinks just to live their ordinary lives. They weren't allowed to have eggs, milk, meat/meat products, and they were restricted from getting many items. In order to live, you need eggs, milk, and meat to feed yourself. Forget not being allowed to have books, what really was something the Jews needed to worry about was how to feed themselves. How are you going to eat if you can't buy essential items for your meals. This really shows how enforcing these laws were and how they wanted residents of their country to live life everyday.

Personally, a certain restriction that I would have a problem with dealing with was the law prohibiting Jewish actors and actresses from performing. Of course, it wouldn't be the end of the world for anyone if entertainment was taken away. Despite this, I feel entertainment is still an essential part for everyday life. Sure taking it away wouldn't be a huge problem, but entertainment is what keeps people occupied. Entertainment is essential for many things in people's lives. For example, it is essential to my life because I enjoy watching people act on television. It's just something something I enjoy doing in my spare time and keeps me relaxed. Taking away that privilege from me would be something that I wouldn't be to happy about. Being stripped of that privilege to me would affect me the most.

Quarter 2 Reflection

In what area do you think you made the biggest improvements in English Language Arts?

The area I think I've made the biggest improvement in is reading more often. Last year, I didn't read too often compared to this year. Last year I didn't find too much time to read and didn't try too hard to find the time. Now, I feel a little more motivated to read all of a sudden. Ever since this year started, I have committed to finish the 20 book challenge and hopefully surpass the maximum. I have been reading more in class and at home. I asked for books this past Christmas to get ahead on my reading and have books at home I could read. So far I have read about 12 books and am certain that I will go above and beyond by finishing the 20 book challenge early.

What is something that your have accomplished since the new year that you are proud of?

Something that I am proud of is that I have gotten all threes on my vocabulary/roots test. I know that an accomplishment like that seem minor, but it is a big one for me. There were some days where I just wasn't having a good day and I would get a lot wrong on the test. Throughout this quarter, that hasn't been happening. According to my grades I have gotten all threes on every test we have done for this quarter. That rarely has ever happened to me ever since 7th grade. Sometimes I would get all threes during one quarter or a couple bad grades in one quarter. This time I did get all threes on the tee and am very thrilled of.

What has been the most challenging part of 2nd quarter for you and what did/can you do to help overcome this?

Out of all the things we have done, I would have to say the investigative journalism unit was a little challenging. It was a little hard for me because of two things. One, what could make a good story? To me, It's hard to come up with a unique idea for news story and when you have something good, everything seems easy. When you have a new article that isn't that interesting, creating it can be a little difficult. Two, for me it was hard to sort of create the article at first. When this was introduced, it se,ed like an entirely new way of writing. It was very unique and different from styles that we have been working with for a while. A big aspect of investigative journalism was that you had to write from a third person point of view. When you are the one coming up with the facts and physically seeing very thing you're writing about, it can be difficult to put all of that in a third person point of view. I'm pretty sure through trial and error, I have progressed a little a had gotten better writing news stories. Writing them more and more helps me fix my errors I have done from the last. Overall, this quarter was pretty good. There still is room for improvement though.

Watchers I.D. Book Talk

     The book I am currently reading is Watchers I.D. by Peter Lerangis. This Science fiction novel is about Eve Hardy. Eve is a 14 year old girl as you will find out right away is a clone. Eve was adopted at birth by a random family and does not have any memory as to who her actual parents were and where she came from. On a ski trip in the mountains she witnessed the death of a teenage girl who died from an accident shares a similar age to Eve. She discovers there have been some deaths from teenage girls who were the exact same age as Kate who have died for unexplained reasons. She is currently further researching into these girls deaths and how/why it's happening. The mood in my eyes seems mysterious. You as the reader wonder how and why are these girls dying? What's keeping me not stop reading is that you want to get a clear answer to all these numerous unanswered questions you ask yourself. Of course this far into the book, it’s a little hard to determine what the these is at this point. From what I have read so far, the theme is teenage girls are dying for unknown reasons.

     I like this book because it's a book that has a little bit of mystery to it. To me, having mystery in a book always keeps m from wanting to go to the next page or reading the next chapter. You will always want to keep reading constantly just to get to the bottom of the mystery. That’s how I feel when reading this book, its mystery is so engaging and confusing which makes me want to invest more of my time to finish. I'll always remember how discombobulated I was reading the introduction. It’s still a little confusing currently where I’m at in the story, but the beginning sort of started at a certain point to address some key details and then just fast forward to a different point in the story. I feel not a lot of books take this approach to introduce a different event in a book and makes this one unique for doing so.

     I would definitely recommend this book to my dad. I would recommend it to him because he likes to watch a lot of shows on TV about mysteries and conspiracies. He just gets really into it and it finds TV shows like this entertaining. He doesn’t read too often, but I feel if I handed him the book, I have a feeling he would be interested. You should go out and get this book because it's a book that has characters who share some of our same age which can make some people relate to them easier. Also, if you like science fiction in your books, this book from what I have read so far is a good book under that category.

"Unemployment"

    Have you ever lost a job? Well if you know someone who has, you probably know that being unemployed for whatever the reason may be is a huge burden on that person and their family if they have one. It's especially a burden if that person doesn't really earn a whole lot of money to begin with. Regardless, not earning a paycheck can really affect a person's home life. You can't buy your groceries and other necessary things without any money. A necessary thing people can’t pay off is their mortgage or rent bills without a job that pays which not only makes them jobless still, but can lead them into being homeless if they have nowhere to live.

    According to an interviewer who will remain nameless, "My dad quit his job last year because his boss was a real Scrooge and he didn't like the amount he was being paid. His job made him really stressful and he felt like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was jobless last fall. Our family had to make sure we were spending our money wisely and on stuff that was extremely necessary despite my mom having a well paying job. We couldn't get new floor for the house because what makes wasn't enough to get out floor and at the same time still be able to frequently buy things we wanted whenever we wanted. The following summer he decided to work for himself and sell houses that he renovates really nicely. He doesn't have to work for a boss he doesn't like and makes way more than his other job as an electrician." This interview shows that being jobless can really affect a person's family. Being jobless can have a group effect and can’t allow you to sometimes have the things you want. You have to make buying your necessities your only priority.

    As you all should know, not only are their unemployed people in America, but people all around the world are without jobs that they desperately need to support themselves and their family. According to a fact from TheGlobalist.com, "In 2013, there were about 157.1 million unemployed workers throughout the world's developing nations." That is a lot of people who were without jobs. Who knows how many million people are jobless right at this moment. This is why we see so many beggars on the street asking for money. All those people are without jobs and ask us for money everyday just to get through the day.

    It's also worth mentioning unemployment can lead to people having psychological issues after losing their job. According to the Chron.com, "People experiencing chronic unemployment might become anxious or depressed, and have trouble sleeping. Prolonged unemployment also has a negative effect on a person's sense of self - worth, damage that might remain in place even after the person is once again unemployed, according to a webpage on Washington and Lee University website." As we can see, being fired can not only affect someone's spending, but their everyday feelings and mentality in a pessimistic way. People can feel all sorts of negative emotions because they lost their only job. A job that they need to keep food on the table and to keep a roof over their head which are huge responsibilities for an adult.

    Adding on to the negative effects of unemployment, some people feel bad about having free time in the day because they aren’t working like they usually do. According to a passage from Psychology today, "I told a neighbor of mine that I had written a book on coping with unemployment and he said to me, “I never told you this, but last year I was unemployed for five months. The worst time for me was when I got up in the morning. I was too embarrassed to go out. I felt like I was in a prison until five in the afternoon when I could leave my apartment. I didn’t want anyone to know that I was unemployed”. People feel shame in not having a job. They feel a person shouldn't have free time during the day and feel embarrassed that they do since they are unemployed. Shame is of course another emotional/mental effect on being jobless.

    On the other hand, the unemployment rate has surprisingly decreased a lot since America’s financial crisis a few years ago. America has been getting better since then. According to a fact from politifact.com, “The December 2014 U-6 rate was 11.2 percent, which is higher than the 11 percent rate in September 2008 and the 10.8 percent rate one month earlier in August 2008.” As we can see, America has made big progress bringing down the unemployment rate percentage. Obama has made some big changes ever since he has been elected into office being able to again lower the unemployment rate by a lot. Despite Obama making improvements to the economy and whatever else he did to lower the unemployment rate, more improvements can be made. We can lower that percentage even more. There is still room for more change. Not only are their people without work in America, but this is a global issue that still needs to be solved. This may look like a David and Goliath situation, but if we all see how we can come together, we can beat Goliath. If we strongly encourage Donald Trump to focus on this situation and help him care, hopefully he can make some sort of change.

Nonfiction Blog

     Yesterday, I finished a book called A Child Called It. It's a memoir and tells the story of Dave Pelzer. Dave, who lived in San Francisco California, was unfortunately beaten, starved, and brutally tortured by his alcoholic mother. Basically, he was abused as a child for several years. He had four brothers that surprisingly were treated well. They were not given the abuse and respect that Dave had to experience. They were sadly brainwashed into thinking what their mother was doing to Dave wasn't bad. They thought he was just given consequences for his bad behavior. When the boys had gotten older, they then realized what a true monster their mother really was. The father, Stephen Pezler, barely showed any care for Dave. He always came home drunk which led to him and his wife getting into heated arguments. He eventually left the family leaving Dave all alone. Thankfully, teachers noticed what Dave had been through and called the police finally saving his life.

     A passage that I found interesting in the book was, "Suddenly, I began to realize the longer I could keep myself off the top of the stove, the better my chances for staying alive. I knew my brother Ron would soon be coming home from his scout meeting, and I knew Mother never acted this bizarre when anyone was in the house. In order to survive, I had to buy time. I stole a glance at the kitchen clock behind me. The second hand seemed to creep ever so slowly. To keep Mother off balance, I began to ask whining questions. This infuriated her even more, and Mother began to rain blows around my head and chest. The more Mother slugged me, the more I began to realize I won! Anything was better than burning on the stove." (42) Although this moment in the memoir almost leads to Dave possibly meeting his death, I was interested by it. It interested me because it showed how smart Dave was back then. At an age like that, he used his brain to get out of something like that. I thought that was amazing, how he adapted and took smart actions. I'm not saying he is a genius or anything, but I thought it was pretty clever on how he distracted her and tried to kill time so his mom can stop.

     Something I am bound to never forget after reading this book is the fact that kids who have been severely abused can really consume and numb yourself as a person. According to the book, "My morale had become so low that in some self - destructive way I hoped she would kill me." (141) Of course it's a given that kids who have been abused, you don't normally function or act as though someone who was my age or younger that thankfully never had to go through all of the abuse he did. Just the way he said that made me knew that issues like this are really serious. Of course I knew they were, but hearing life threatening stories always put me in perspective of that persons issue and makes me feel terrible for that person or group of people.

     Something else I am never bound to forget was what Dave had to go through. "...My brothers and I were playing in our room when we heard Mother rush down the hall, yelling at us. Ron and Stan ran for cover in the living room. I instantly sat down in my chair. With both arms stretched out and raised, Mother came at me. As she came closer and closer, I backed my chair towards the wall. Soon I touched the wall... I closed my eyes as the oncoming blows began to rock me from side to side..." (134) Every time I heard about him being hit like that just mad me feel really sad. This is is what he had to go through every day. This book gave me the realization that kids that could be my age face bigger problems then me. In conclusion, this memoir indeed made me learn a lot about Dave and child abuse in generally.

I commented on Dena's Blog
I commented on Jessie's Blog
I commented on Edgar's Blog
I commented on Andrew's Blog

What I Am Thankful For

What I am grateful for this year is being with my family everyday. You may think that's a a little obvious to be thankful, because everyone is grateful for their family. I still think it's worth mentioning because not everyone is thankful for their family or are united with their full family. We as teenagers may take our family for granted or can't be with our full family for the holidays. Maybe from them passing or dying of some sort of unfortunate disease. I however don't take my family for granted and am thankful to be with them on Thursday. In conclusion, I am very thankful for all my family and their well being.

Something else I am also thankful for is specifically having my aunt living here and not moving. The story is, my had gotten married Fall of 2015. Last year they had been talking about moving to Morroco to live with her husbands family. Two months before last years Thanksgiving she had decided to move their out of nowhere. It was a very emotional day for our family seeing her leave to the airport. Thanksgiving my parents/brother and I went to my grandmothers for Thanksgiving dinner and as we walked into the kitchen, we saw her smiling and happy to see us. I am just thankful she stayed and won't be leaving ever again.

Another thing I am thankful for is having the opportunity to be able to attend a private high school. Thankfully, my parents make just the right amount of money to be able to send me to a private high school. Unfortunately, some parents can not afford for their kids to go to a school like Nazareth. That's also a reason why I don't take my parents for granted. They are giving me this big opportunity to go to a really good school which will cost a whole lot compared to a public school. That is something else that I am very thankful for.

I commented on Jessie's blog