Spring DWA 2013

In the book Gone by Michael Grant there is a flash and then all of a sudden everyone older than 14 disappears. There is a wall on a ten mile radius from a nuclear power plant, now not only are there just young people but they are trapped within their town. With a limited amount of food they must not only survive but figure out how to get back to the earth that they know.  The world that we know is the only thing that matters.

The way that young people are trapped inside of a force field like shield without any adults is similar to The Hunger Games. In Gone  everyone that is 14 or younger, is trapped inside of an electric force field and must figure out a way to get back to the “normal” world. Circumstances in The Hunger Games are not much different, everyone 18 or younger is trapped inside an electric force field and must kill to get back to the “outside”.

When families are trying to get into a country illegally and they have kids, some parents can’t afford for the whole family to come so many times only the kid goes. Then kids are in a foreign country, speak a foreign language, have little or no money and must fend for themselves. Even though there are adults all around them they can’t talk to any since they speak a different language. Child immigrants must get their parents over and the kids from gone need to somehow get in touch with theirs also.

The connection this book has to me is that they are trapped inside a force field and I am trapped in school. I get out in seven hours though they may be trapped forever. People have died in that force field. At least school isn’t as serious as that!

Obviously this isn’t possible of happening but if it were to happen in the ‘real world’ how well would kids do? In many cities the electricity would go out, there would be food shortages, water shortages. I think we have become too dependent on technology. If you are lost on a road people just use their phone to get to where they want to go instead of asking a human where to go. If we want to know when Missouri became a state, we don’t flip through pages in an encyclopedia we ask our phones. We may need to take a step backward in technology.

Summer

When you ask a person “what’s your favorite season?” some people might say spring or fall because of the nice temperatures, or winter because of the snow that looks like whip cream, but there is a reason why most people answer summer. Although it can get warm or buggy, the overall joy of summer easily trumps that.  Summer is the season of happiness.

In summer you don’t have school and that is great! On school days you have to get up early, eat breakfast that just tastes gray, have a lousy lunch as bad an elephant in a horse race and go to class for six hours. Days in the summer you can get up at noon eat lunch at two P.M. dinner at six and then maybe hang out with friends and play video games until three A.M. Some kids may even turn nocturnal they stay up so late!

Great weather in the summer is also very nice. Hot weather allows you to go to the water park, have a lemonade stand or play around outside with friends.  The beach is as active as a ballpark on opening day. I can spend a whole day at the beach whether I am swimming, laying on the sand and listening to the waves talk or having a nice ice cream cone never fails to keep me occupied.

All in all summer s a great season. Even if you have to work in the summer it still beats working while it’s snowing outside! In all other seasons we are as boring as a robot. In Fall you rake leaves, in winter you shovel, in spring you clean and in summer you relax.

Physical Activity

Author's Note: I wrote this piece to show how important physical activity can be and will be in the future.

This summer’s physical activity will provide me with a way to rehab my knee, while in the past it provided me with a way to have fun.  Almost every day over summer break I would find myself doing some form of physical activity such as: playing basketball, kickball or soccer With that said, physical activity fuels my life and a lot of others too.

Exercising provides me with enjoyment, but also keeps me healthy.Physical activity can help to prevent many potentially harmful side effects that go along with aging like: obesity, high blood pressure and heart problems. Over the past few years in health class we have been learning about these problems, and a huge way to help prevent them is just to exercise. Having the knowledge of these problems can help a lot too, because then you know what to do to prevent poor health in the future. We need to exercise more, especially because restaurants are serving bigger portions.

A very popular part of physical activity is the social aspect. Most of my friends today I met  while playing around on the playground or playing basketball with them. When I hang out with my friends we like to play sports just as something to do. That’s why physical activity helps me in my life.

Missouri Compromise

Author's Note: I wanted to write this piece because I wanted to show how hard being a slave was.

I was a slave. All my life the only thing I knew was slavery. It was 1820, and the Union was pushing for Missouri to be a free state, and so was I. Work was tough, and my owner never let up. If I wasn’t working, I would do extra work for him, work I wasn’t even supposed to do. With this, I might be able to do what I want in my life, and be free of ownership. There was a huge debate going on about what should happen to make this state better for everyone. The Missouri Compromise would set me free and make slavery illegal in this part of our country.

The House originally rejected this compromise bill for half of a free state. Apparently, after a conference committee of members of both main houses was appointed,  The bills were treated separately and in March of 1820, Maine was made a state and Missouri was authorized to adopt a constitution having no restrictions on slavery. This was huge for Missouri and slavery, and more importantly, me. I needed freedom, because I’ve worked hard enough, and long enough, to have two life times full of freedom. My owner was a pain, and I never liked him. This was a chance to be free of all stress and worries.

I wasn’t the first to hear about this, but I heard about it soon enough to know before most did.  There was an agreement put forward by Henry Clay that placed an imaginary line that will keep slavery on one half, and freedom on the other. The south would be slavery, and the northern side will be free. I lived in the northern part of Missouri, and I felt better about life. I finally get to be free. Just when I thought my life would be great, a horrible thought came rushing through my mind that I couldn’t wash away. It was me, being forced by my owner, to move to the southern half of Missouri to stay working for him, and keep living my horrible, almost worthless life. I tried to overcome it, but I couldn’t fight that thought away. It was like someone took a piece of paper and super glued it into my brain. I couldn’t bear that.

After I woke from my nice, peaceful sleep, the first thing that I saw was the morning paper, just delivered by the Pony Express, and so I picked it up. The headline read “Kansas-Nebraska Act Set to Determine If Slavery Should Be Allowed”. I was dazed by the news. I read the article twice to make sure I got all of the information. It said that Stephen Douglas created this act, in which slavery was being determined on which land if any slavery was necessary. This made more land for settlement, and the settlers got to decide if slavery should be allowed. This is big news; maybe I could run away from here and go to Kansas, or Nebraska, or anywhere free of slavery. I could tell my family to do the same. We could live a nice life, and never talk about slavery again. The thought of that gave me goose-bumps.

Today was the day I start my extreme and severe exhibition to freedom. I packed up all of my belongings, even though there weren’t many, and waited. My owner always went for a walk in the morning, a short one, about 10 minutes, and that would give me time to make a run for it. My stuff is so light, I feel like there is no way I won’t be able to do this.

Just as he set out for his walk, I was in stealth mode around the back of the shack, which was pointing west,  where there was nothing but open ground. I had to go quickly, because it would be easy to see me with that much open space. I checked my compass to make sure I was going the right way, and took off. I used all of my speed and bolted towards freedom. I could almost taste it as I inched farther and farther away from the small shack. I had little water, and I was already thirsty. I could deal with a little thirst if it meant freedom.  I turned around and the shack was nowhere in sight. Freedom. I finally had freedom.

The Real King?

Author's Note: I wrote this piece because most people call Lebron James the King, I think it is Micheal Jordan. Please look at my word choice.

Dear Michael Jordan,

I am writing you this letter to tell you how much you mean to kids my age, including me. You have had many accomplishments over the years including six championship’s, opening your own brand and owning your own NBA team. You just turned 50 and you are still as great of a legend that you were for your 35th or 40th. Many people are questioning whether you are still the greatest player. So far, I think that you will are the greatest basketball player who has lived!

Your six championships were all amazing, especially because you have won finals MVP in all six of them. Although your first was really special, you beat the Lakers in five games, which is astonishing. The second finals win for you is also special, beating the Trail Blazers in six. In 93’ you beat the Sun’s also in six and this completed your first back to back to back NBA championship. After playing baseball for a couple  years you came back to your natural sport, basketball. You won 3 more championships and again they were back to back to back!

Jordan the brand, is awesome; your shoes have exploded into a extravagant phenomenon. Most kids have a pair and for many kids, that’s all they wear. Other brands of shoes such as Adidas have become redundant over the years because your shoes are ten times better than theirs. Some of your shoes have even been featured on a basketball video game. There are many more reasons why your shoes are the best, but let’s just keep it at that for now.

You own the majority of the Charlotte Bobcats and although they haven’t had the best record the past few years, they are still very talented. If you could give some of the players tips and draft well the next few years your team could make the playoffs. I don’t know how long you plan on still owning them, but they could win a championship as early as 2020. You would still have more championships with the Bulls though!

All in all you are the greatest basketball player of all time and you still will be for at least the next 30 years. You played in a different NBA though, back when all stars played in the dunk contest, not guys who average three minutes a game. Players tried in all quarters not just the fourth. You are the real king!

Haiku

Authors Note: I did this short haiku poem to see how much creativity you can pack into 17 syllables.



As the wind does blow
Across the trees, I see the
Buds blooming in May

Compare/ Contrast the gulf on the coast

Author's Note: I wrote this piece to show how much different and alike characters can be.

Britt:
selfish when stressed
Shy all the time
When she knows people is open
Nosey with her mom
Mysterious about home life
Bran:
Always looking out for family
Hard worker no matter what
Open to everyone
Is considered perfect kid
Only tells britt his one very deep secret
Same:
Looks out for their struggling mom
Will do anything to support their family
Don't have a lot of friends
Wonder about their abandon father
mom is their favorite person in the world

Packers VS Seahawks Controversial End of Game

Author's Note: I wrote this piece to show how different two points of view can be. Please look at my organization.

On September 25^th 2012 the Green Bay Packers came into Seattle to play the Seahawks. In a very defensive game the Seahawks were up seven to nothing after the first half. With a Packers TD in the third they were only down one but with a missed extra point, they were still trailing going into the fourth quarter. With just over eight minutes left in the game the packers had a touchdown run by Cedric Benson to put the

packers up twelve to seven.

With around a minute and a half left the Seahawks got the ball back still only down 5. Former Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson was leading the drive and got the ball to the Packers 30 yard line with just ten ticks left on the clock. The Seahawks called a hail mary play. Nothing was open at first but, Wilson scrambled out of the pocket to avoid pressure and ended up throwing the ball back at the Packers 40 yard line.

The ball seemed like it was in the air forever but when it did come down it the refs were a little unsure who caught it! Packers’ defensive back M.D. Jennings and the Seahawks receiver Golden Tate were wrestling on the ground over who got the ball. One ref signaled for a Touchback because of an interception, the other ref signaled for a touchdown. The referee's huddled up and called that the ruling on the field was a touchdown. Although since it was a scoring play it was automatically reviewed. But the review cannot review who caught the ball, just if the ball hit the ground and it obviously didn’t so the call on the field stood.

From a Packers fan point of view they obviously think they were robbed of a win on a few different points. Firstly the receiver who supposedly caught the ball, pushed off on Sam shields right before the ball came. Secondly M.D. Jennings caught the ball with two hands, brought it into his chest and then hit the ground, which would result in an interception. But Golden Tate fell to the ground on top of Jennings and ripped it out of his arms. The call obviously should have been an interception.

Some Seahawks fans actually believe it was an interception and they should have lost the game. However the majority of Seahawks fans believe that since Golden Tate ripped it out of his arms even though he was already down that they should still get the ball. I even saw poll online that asked what you thought the call should have been and over 90% said it should have been an interception! 

Survival

Author's Note: I wrote this piece to show how much survival can mean to people. Please look at my descriptive words.

In the book The Hatchet a boy named Brian was flying over Canada to see his dad when the pilot had a heart attack.  The plane crashed and miraculously Brian survived the crash.  The only possession he had was a hatchet. In this essay you will learn that survival; is a key attribute to living in this world.

First of Brian’s troubles were when his plane crashed into the middle of Canadian wilderness.  The pilot had a heart attack which caused the plane to dip down and no one to fly it.  Brian had to try to steer the plane into a lake so that he still could survive.  When he landed in the lake Brian had to fight his way out of the plane and then swim to the surface before he ran out of air. 

After Brian got used to the wilderness and had shelter, food and water a tornado hit his camp and forced him to start all over on surviving in the wild.  The only thing he had was his hatchet, like when the plane crashed and he almost died.  This is a good example about how he was doing good in survival, until everything went wrong and made him start all over again.

Once Brian recovered from the tornado and the plane crush he got up and started all over again.  His whole body wanted to shut down and die but he pulled through and lives.  That later made a good choice since this time when he started all over again he did a better job.  Eventually though, he got careless and a moose trampled him.  He got bruises and broken bones but he didn’t die.  This shows the book displayed survival as unforgiving, hard work and if you mess up you don’t get a second chance.

In the book, Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, Katniss was chosen to compete in a giant arena where everything was woods and twenty-four people battled it out, killing each other until there is only one left.  Katniss was a hunter, which made her good at surviving.  She thrived in the games, only relying on herself.  She had to do what Brian did but on top of that she had people trying to kill her!  This shows how survival was also a theme in the Hunger Games but sometimes survival is harder than other times.

These are reasons why The Hatchet was a book about survival and why.  If you were in Brian’s place what would you have done?  Survival can be the theme in many books, whether surviving in the wild or just surviving middle school, although Brian’s situation was a little worse than surviving middle school.