There is one war that most Americans find outrageous and ugly. It all started with a lie, that one of our own presidents told to the American people. Lyndon B. Johnson was a great man, who helped people and was loyal to his country, but he lied to the American people about a Vietnamese ship attacking an American ship, and he blamed the Vietnamese, even though he knew very well that he lied. Ho Chi Minh was trying to gain independence in Vietnam. Their neighbors, the Chinese, had responded to the call of communism, and America was afraid of the Domino Theory (country after country falling to communism). Then, the war was turned over to Eisenhower, who withdrew American troops from Vietnam slowly with an idea of Vietnamization. There were Hawks and Doves during, the war, and lots of controversy in the states. Horrible things happened in Vietnam, and in the States. Innocent people died, and traitors and hypocrites were revealed.
Category Archives: Core Learning Strands
Forrest Gump Movie Review
From the point of view that this is the first time that I have watched this movie, it takes me through a myriad of history, and Tom Hanks played the role of a veteran/ex-pro ping pong player/national icon. Not only was this movie a great presentation of lots of U.S. history, but it keeps the watchers laughing with Tom Hanks and his deep south accent. Despite all the troubles “Forest Gump” has to deal with in his lifetime, his relationship with Jenny is heart breaking, how she leaves him time and time again, and chooses the wrong path too many times. If Forest was smart in the movie, it would have made it much harder to deal with, so keeping Forest dimwitted was a smart move on the directors part. All in all, I loved the movie. It cut to the core of me and moved me. It even made my brother cry. I would recommend this movie to anyone 13 and up, just because seeing the effects of the movie on my brother, you would have to understand more about that time in history and the more adult-sided topics and drug references are meant for older ages. I would rate this movie 4 and 1/2 stars.
The Help Book Review
The Help, Kathryn Stockett’s novel, gives me an amazing insight into the struggle of the black workers in the 1960’s. In the book, the characters fit in perfectly into their time period, and their attributes seem well thought out. The book takes the perspective of 12 black maids into perspective, and lets the reader read about the struggles of their time period. The book also creates amazing connections and interactions between the characters that makes reading the book so much more deep and meaningful. I found this book absolutely amazing and powerful to my ear and I would recommend this book to anyone familiar with the Civil Rights Movement and anyone who has a firm grasp on the concept of this time period and place.
Personal Memory
I have been informed countless amounts of times that it is not a safe action to talk about religion, politics, or money in front of people you don’t know, or barely know. But that doesn’t mean that these topics shall not be discussed infrequently. There is a family that lives on our street, precisely four houses down on the opposite side of the road, who was always talking about religion, politics, or money in an abundant way, enough to “piss” anyone off within earshot. My dad would have frequent encounters with these people. He did not show his emotions to the challenges that were brought up in the “conversation” that the dads discussed.
I have lived within earshot of these people, the dad, a three-toes-on-one-of-his-feet seaplane captain, the mom, a masters degree from Germany in Mathematics, and the children. Oh, the children. It started with their eldest son, home-schooled, named Steve. He is one and one half years older than I am. His sister, Melanie, a bit younger than I am, goes to school. And finally the younger son, Tony, goes to school, two years younger.
I have watched this family develop over the years, add two more siblings to their family, (totaling seven family members in a one story house) and accommodate an “extraordinary” amount of people into their small, yet messy house. Some of my mother’s students would move into their house for the summer. I couldn’t even go walking in my neighborhood anymore. It was like living in the same apartment building.
Sometimes there were awkward hellos on the streets. I asked them if they liked where they were staying. Maybe they said yes because their room was the only one that didn’t look like a tornado had tore up the room, and deliberately scattered every possible thing in the room to scatter on top of things, or underneath impossible places to acquire or hide something on purpose. This born-again Christian family accommodates Muslims to live in their house. Ironic, no? But this doesn’t mean that this family is bad. In fact, this family is very smart, innovative, funny, welcoming, and generous. All in all, Steve is my best friend to this day.
Letter to Nixon
Dear Mr. President,
Your whole life is about to be ruined. You are about to get involved in one of the most shameful and embarrassing moments in the history of your presidency. Call off your spies at watergate. The tape on the doors won’t work. Bribing won’t work either. You will make wrong decisions. You better not record your conversations with your spies because they will turn up and be held against you. You think that this is a sneaky way to get yourself re-elected. You do not realize that when they force you to turn over the tapes that you will record, you will not want to face the shame and sorrow of the decisions you made to try to get re-elected by taking the easy way out. You will be infamous for being the only president who decided to resign. It’s your choice(choice)(choice(fading away))(choice).
You have been warned,
Delghetto
Pyez
He said it was just an ordinary burrito, he said we would be friends, and we would be equals, he said nothing would change, but nothing remained the same. It all started in the seventh grade, when I got back from Mexico, only to find that a strange new kid had recently joined the seventh grade class of 1988. His name was Rodriguez Morgado. He was short and skinny, his nose bent in a cruel form, his dark blue eyes staring into the depths of my soul. No one in the class dared to look at him, and when they did, it was as if an aura of rage was circulating around his body and making everyone else in the class feel small, and unwanted. My name is Pyez Rafael Gerardo, and that day marked the start of the most dangerous journey of my life. Continue reading
Current Event Q2 #1
Daniel Promislow wants to try to find a way to make dogs live longer or let them just be more active as they age. They are using a drug called rapamycin to see if it works on the dogs, and are wondering if the drug could possibly work or have the same effect on humans and if they had finally found a cure for expanding a human life span.
“I think that it’s good that dogs are given a chance to have a longer and happier life,” says Cady Calandra. I am looking forward to the progress in this experiment because it might be able to expand the life span of humans. The author is unbiased.
Berlin Song
What would I do without my family
I go to work and I can’t get across
The Berlin Wall, the block
And now Russia’s the boss
No matter how much I beg the guards
They will never let me cross
I’m getting desperate, I’m losing it
But I’ll be alright
I run at the guards fearing for my dear life
They’re crazy and I’m out of my mind
The Berlin wall was built over night
I hate every stone that binds it.
It crumbles down in my mind
My family is trapped inside
Nothin I can do about it
Even when I commit a crime.
Cause I’ll give you anything
to reunite with my family
This day in history
The Good Earth Summary
The Good Earth takes place in China. The main character, Wang Lung is a peasant farmer who married a slave, O-lan, who gave Wang Lung lots of children, who throughout the course of the book go their separate ways. Wang Lung purchased land from the house of Huang to grow crops to sell in the market. But when the rain wouldn’t come, the family had to migrate south to beg for food to be able to survive. Wang Lung went with a group of people to ransack a rich home. He stole a sack of gold and bought 300 acres of land. He purchased a young prostitute, Lotus, as his concubine and shunned O-lan, who became critically ill. Then Wang felt bad and realized that he had taken O-lan for granted all these years. In the end of the book, Wang Lung is a old and rich man. I rate this book two stars because of the slow pace. I would not recommend this book because it has way too many inappropriate references.