William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratford, England. Very little records were written, showing of the way in which Shakespeare’s professional life became his skill. We all remember him for writing some of the pest poems and plays for decades.

Although there is not an official birth date of William Shakespeare, it says he was baptized on April 26, 1564. So they believe he was born three or four days before that. He most likely attended the King’s New School, in Stratford, which taught reading, writing and the classics. William had two older sisters, and three younger brothers.

William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582, in Worcester, in Canterbury Province. They ended up having three daughters but one died at the age of eleven. Then after their third child, the next seven years had no record on their lives which is referred to as the “lost years.”

It is to be said that he died on the birth date, April 23, 1616. He left most of his possessions to his oldest daughter. It is said that he left Anne only a quarter of it and that they did not have a close marriage. However there is very little proof that they did.

Today he is known as one of the most famous poets and playwrights ever. Growing up his family was wealthy due to his father became a successful merchant and held official positions as alderman and bailiff. One of his most famous plays was the romance Romeo and Juliet. Today people still mourn his death even though it was over three and a half centuries ago.

Invictus

The movie Invictus was about the South African rugby team going and playing in the world cup. At the beginning of the movie all the South Africans hated the sport and even tried to get rid of it from their nation. But newly elected, President Mandela convinced them and the team started winning. On their campaign they stopped and taught the rules to the children of South Africa. The children at first only liked one player, the only black player on the field, Chester. President Mandela met with their captain, Francois, and inspired him to be a leader, and he did. He lead his team to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the world noticed South Africa after that.

Lone Survivor

In Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell, he talks about when him and three other navy SEALs went on a mission to kill Taliban commander who was responsible for the death of twenty Navy SEALs. Their goal was to capture him and bring him back. When they were spying on him in the mountains of Baghdad, Afghanistan, they were seen by sheep herders. The team had three options, to let them go hike up the mountain and call to get picked up, to leave them tied up and call to get picked up, or three, to kill them bury the bodies and resume the mission. Leader Mike Murphy made the decision to let them go and hike up. The herders ended telling the Taliban and in fifteen minutes they had two hundred of them on the four seals backs. The Taliban ended up killing three of the four seals and badly wounded Marcus. He ended up being taken into an Afghan village where they protected him due to all costs, it was because of their religion.

This is definitely a great book with a lot of action, excitement, and drama. I would rate it a 5 out of 5. It is 400 pages long so it may take a little bit of patience it you will not regret reading it.

Civil Rights Tweets

Jackie Robinson:

As a hall of fame baseball player, and a civil rights hero I’m proud of our president and what he’s done. #obama #firstblack #blackandwhite

This years World Series was a great battle between the Royals and the Giants. Sadly the Giants won but I’m proud of both teams #baseball #worldseries2014 #blackandwhite

As an ex army chief I feel we need to send troops to take down Isis. #taliban #isis #badguysgoboom #blackandwhite

Martin Luther King JR:

Our nations leader is the first black leader but he hasn’t done the expectations I’ve had in him. #sadface #obama #blackandwhite

I’m glad to see this country treating African Americans fairly. But now black people are getting mad at white people. Like when a white cop killed a black man. Many people wanted justice and have him locked up in jail for life. #jail #makepeacenotwar #blackandwhite

Just went to the natural history museum and saw a lot of stuff from my time  #throwbackthursday #blackandwhite

Rosa Parks: 

Riding on a bus today felt different. It was just a normal bus, no segregation, no better and worst parts, and no cruel people. #relived #busboycott #blackandwhite

I’m so happy to have helped the country become more free and have less segragation. I wanted the best for my kids #segragationisbad #blackandwhite

I believe my arrest helped people realize how cruel it really was. #blackandwhite

42

In the movie “42,” it explains Jackie Robinson’s first season with the Dodgers and the challenges he had to overcome. The players didn’t want him, the coach didn’t want him, and even the announcers didn’t want him! The team had to find different hotels because blacks weren’t allowed into the finest ones. They couldn’t eat at the same restaurants, or go to the same bar. The manager of the dodgers wanted to change baseball, he wanted to desegregate it. Jackie had to agree not to fight back if he got criticized or hit. If he did that people would hate him even more. But through the movie, the players overcame his skin color and became not just teammates but friends. And by the end of the movie he ended the respect he deserved, from everybody.

Historical Fiction book Q2 #3

Dear Christopher Paul Curtis,

Would you be able to tell me what your most recent entry felt like? What it felt like with Byron and his “rage moments”? I also couldn’t believe my eyes when your mother, father, and Joey were all laughing at how he was bald and his ears were so big. It seemed weird how Mr. Watson was so calm when he came to realize what your brother had done to his hair. In my opinion that took a lot of guts because he knew he wasn’t allowed to do that with his hair but he did it anyways. I hope every thing works out okay with your brother.

Sincerely, Chris

 

Firsts in sports

In 1958 a man named Willie O’Ree made his debut in the National Hockey League. He was with the Boston Bruins for two games. In 1961, after two years in the minors, O’Ree had played with them longer, 41 games. O’Ree never played another game in the NHL. This may not seem efficient, but O’Ree was different from every other player who played before him. He was black, and there wasn’t another Negro in the NHL for 25 years. The NHL was about 10 years behind every other sport in letting Negros play. Today people don’t remember Willie O’Ree as the first black hockey player but his presence let other African Americans in.

Hall of gamer Bill Willis played a crucial role in breaking the color burier in the National Football League. He made his official debut on. In the eight years he played for the Cleveland Browns from 1946 through 1953, he was a first-team All-League selection seven times and a second-team choice once. He also played in three NFL Pro Bowls. He was known for his strong charge towards the quarterback and had coaches thinking he was off-sides. He died November 27, 2007.

Earl Lloyd became the first African-American to play in the National Basketball Association on October 31, 1950. Lloyd started at power forward with an emphasis on power, for the 1954-55 NBA champion Syracuse Nationals, who moved to Philadelphia in 1963 to become the 76ers. He joined an all white team which he described as “Frightening.” Lloyd didn’t have a huge impact on anybody at that era but then recognized later on.

One of Jackie’s main accomplishments was obviously the fact that he was the first African-American to play Major League Baseball. When he first started, no one except the manager liked him, not the fans or even his teammates. But by the end of his career he earned everyone’s respect not just for him playing the game but as a person as well. In 1949 he was named baseballs most valuable player. In 1962 Jackie Robinson was inducted into the Hall of Fame. After he retired from baseball in 1956, Robinson was an outspoken champion in the Civil Rights movement. He influenced millions, that African-Americans shouldn’t just be able to play baseball together, but are to be treated equal to one another.

 

Edit: Current Events Q1 #3

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The article I read was “Cuba strikes out as it tries to keep its ballplayers home” The date of the article was October 1, 2014. For the past fifteen years, Cuba has tried to keep their baseball players in Cuba. The level of play is dropping because all the best players are fleeing to the United State. This has been happening for the past fifteen years. Many have had to leave Cuba illegally and they could never return back. They left in hopes of making a lot of money.

If the players would stay in Cuba then the level of play would be higher and they could make more money. The author was unbiased. I think Cuba should let their players play in America. My classmate Josh thinks that if they are not making enough money in Cuba, then they should be allowed to play in the United States. 

Current events Q1 #2

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The article I read was “What will the new iPhone look like?” The date of the article was  September 8, 2014. The new iPhone 6 just came out and they have revolutionized smart phone screens. They decided to use Sapphire in their screen. They are selling world wide now. Apple wanted to improve the iPhone as much as possible and this was their big break.

It would improve “gaming, typing and playing instruments in apps.” Now that they have improved their iPhone many people are going to be watching them and if Apple does well then many more phones will have sapphire. The author was unbiased.