Creative Writing #4

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The clouds above us started to fray and a sudden booming sound pierced my ears. As the dark figures came into visibility, the whirring sound got louder. Once the mist cleared, the two stealth helicopters had become visible, positioned on both sides of our van. Roberto and Pyez stepped out of the helicopter on the right, walking towards me shoulder to shoulder. They stopped twenty feet away from me and stepped once away from each other, to reveal, Escobido.

Escobido, a cruel figure, scars in several places, was dressed in black clothes, and glasses that read on the outside, “Keep calm and eat burritos”.

“You just don’t give up, do you?” he inquired.
“It’s a habit yeah.” I mocked.
“Before I kill you, let me introduce you to the newest addition to our crew.” he boomed.
Something cracked the ground behind me, as if a mini meteor had struck earth, the collision sent vibrations up my spine, and as I turned around I realized, I was facing the closest thing earthbound to a god. His arms were as thick as cannon barrels, the top of his head barren, and his jaw appeared primordial. He appeared to be homoerectus on steiroids. The crack in the ground was from him jumping from the helicopter.
Above me was the army of helicopters, as they were before. But I noticed something peculiar about the helicopters. When they moved or repositioned in the slightest form, they all moved as one, as one giant living organism, with lots of holes, like a giant thin slice of swiss cheese. Then I made the discovery that there is a supercomputer controlling all the helicopters. If we could find the computer or where it was mounted, we could get out of this.
Suddenly, my walkytalky started going off. It was the CIA. They were asking us to report our position. Escobido was still staring at me through his glasses.
“Tell them you are going off grid for a while… a long while Mr. Krasovic.  Welcome to your home country!” Escobido boomed.

Drones

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This article is about how drones are becoming more popular.  Drones are being used for air traffic so planes don’t crash.  The advantage of using drones is that you don’t put human lives at risk because drones are unmanned and operate by computer or remote control.  The FAA is having problems controlling the drones because they are hard to see and they can only be flown at least five miles from the airport to be safe.  No one wants a crash between drones and airplanes.

The authors opinion is unbiased.  I think that drone technology is advancing ahead of its time and it’s great. Cady thinks that its cool.

Interview a Veteran

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In history we are studying the Vietnam war and to get a better perspective on the effects and the outtake of the war on civilians and veterans, I put together five open ended questions to ask Mr. Christensen, Ms. Christensen’s father, a Vietnam veteran, to get a better perspective and look at the war from a different point of view. Below are the questions and the answers that Mr. Christensen gave on the day that the whole class interviewed him and asked him these questions.

1. Where were you born?/What was it like growing up during that time?
April 1945, “Baby Boomer”/50’s long cars were invented, lots of gasoline, life was rocking and rollin.

2. Where were you and when were you drafted?/How old were you?/ What were you doing?/How did you feel about it?/Did you try to avoid it?
San Jose, school, Oakland when I was drafted. I was 22. I was in school. I was shocked. Nope.

3. What was your position in the army and what did you do?/What types of projects did you work on?
He searched for equipment. He was trying to beat the supply system that was failing.

4. How did you leave Vietnam?/How did you feel when you returned home?/Did people treat you badly when you returned?/What did you do when you came back?
I came back on a 707. I lost my best friend.

5. How did/ do you feel about the war now?/ Do you call yourself a war hero?
I don’t call myself a war hero.

This day in History Q2

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This day in history, January 19th, 1809, a great poet was born. His name was Edgar Allen Poe. By the time he was three, both his parents had died, and his grandfather raised him. Once he got through school, and kicked out of the University of Virginia, he joined the military, and served for two years. He then got appointed to West Point. By 1836 he had published three poems, that had not gotten much attention. He soon became well known for writing horror stories such as, “The Tell Tale Heart”, and “The Fall of The House of Usher”. In 1844, he moved to New York, where he wrote his famous piece, “The Raven”. When he was working on a broadway show, his wife died of tuberculosis in 1847 and that drove him deeper into alcoholism. He then got engaged, but died before the wedding, because he was drinking at a party in Baltimore and was found three days later in a gutter, taken to the hospital, and died on October 7th, 1849, at the age of 40.

Comparing MLK Jr. to Eisenhower-Writing Analysis

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Writing is the most powerful tool for recording knowledge. It is one of the fundamental building blocks of everything we have ever learned and taught. Writing is an art. Not saying that it is easy, it is a hard art to master. Eisenhower, an ex-war general, was one of the best presidents who contributed a great amount to the growth of our country. His farewell address that he gave at the end of his presidency was his last speech. MLK Jr. was one of the great writers of the Civil Rights Movement. He was a preacher, and a motivational speaker. His “I have a dream,” speech was the most motivational speech he gave during the Civil Rights Movement. Everything behind a speech leads to the purpose of the speech. Both of these historical figures had the same purpose, to inform America. Even if these pieces were written by very different people in different times, they have the same style of diction and tone.

Every speech has a purpose, some deeper than others. King’s purpose in writing this particular speech was to inform people about the horrors of racism and to strongly challenge the world for civil rights.  For example, “So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.” King stood up at that podium for one reason only.  He wanted to get people on his side of the big debate in the U.S. He spoke out against racism and delivered a very powerful and influential speech, to get black and white people on his side of the peaceful protests.

Some speeches even have two purposes. Eisenhower was giving his farewell address after a very successful presidency.  Eisenhower’s speech however, was also meant to inform people about racism and to warn people about the Military Industrial Complex. He knew that the future was going to throw a very fast curveball at the US, and in this speech, he intended to inform the U.S. about two things that he feared for his country.  His first objective was to inform the U.S. about impending racism and how it was going to change their lives.  He did so like this, “We face a hostile ideology global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method.” Sure enough he was right, people were protesting in the streets every day. His second purpose was to inform people that there were large amounts of money being invested in the military.  Eisenhower was afraid that there was going to be a Military Industrial Complex and that the military in the U.S. was going to become too powerful.

The tone of a speech makes all the difference when you are trying to express yourself and your purpose. King does a phenomenal job of getting his listeners engaged and focused on his purpose.  The reason King was such a passionate speaker is because he grew up in a preaching background.  He himself was a preacher in a small church in Alabama. When King spoke, he truly spoke from the heart, for example, “This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South with.” King used formal diction to get across the idea that his topic was truly an issue and that he was dead serious.

On the other hand, Eisenhower did a lot for our country.  Eisenhower is a respected figure so most people pay attention anyway, but he too does a great job of keeping his listeners listening. He doesn’t need a lot of passion to get peoples attention. However, he delivered deliberate speech when he gave his farewell address.  For example, “You and I, my fellow citizens need to be strong in our faith that all nations, under god, will reach the goal of peace with justice.” His tone was calm but passionate, and he used formal diction to get across his point that he was talking about something serious.

Writing is something amazing.  It is used in every aspect of life.  It is used to get messages and feelings across.  King and Eisenhower are two great American figures that used writing to say something that made them very famous and earned them a place in the great puzzle of the world.  Their writing styles are very similar and very different at the same time.  They gave their speeches at different times and had different purposes, yet they both used formal diction and a passionate tone.  They both did a great job using all the aspects of creating a speech to change the world forever.

Unit 4 Summary

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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.

Forrest Gump Movie Review

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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

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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

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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.

Current News

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Ed Curry has made the world hottest pepper called Smokin Eds Carolina Reaper.  It places on the pepper scale at 1.56 million.  It also ranked 2.83 if some one were to supersede him.

The author was unbiased.  I thought that it was a great advancement in pepper technology, and Cady thinks that she could eat two thousand of them.