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Three Cups of Tea Book Review
The book Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Relin, is about a mountaineer who is climbing an enormous mountain in Pakistan called K2 when he comes across a small village. The villagers take him in and to repay them, he promises to build a school for the school-less community. After a lot of work and obstacles Mortenson finishes his first school, and little does he know that it is the start of his new career. With the support and donations of many people in America, he finishes 54 more schools focusing on education for girls, as well as poor villages. He continues to help Pakistan even during the chaos from 9/11 and the Afghanistan War. This incredible man gives up any average live that he could have had to change villagers lives forever.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys an interesting story and a good read that will keep you at the edge of your seat.
Chinese Political Cartoon
This cartoon shows that because most social media is blocked, the people who live in China don’t think about it the way that a lot of Americans do.
This cartoon shows that even though Mao thought that “The Great Leap” would bring China to great wealth, but instead it brought famine and death.
This cartoon shows how Mao sent the intelligent people to the fields to get humbled by the farmers. This was part of the “Cultural Revolution”.
Creative Writing #2
As I am arriving from school a week later, I see my dad pulling into the driveway. I pull up behind him, then open my car door.
“Dad why are you home so early?” I question him.
Without answering, he walks around his car and opens the trunk of his car. He pulls out a brown cardboard box with holes punched in it, the strange thing about the box was that it seemed to move without my dad moving it.
“What’s in the box?” I ask.
Again without answering my question, he walked to the front door, unlocked it, then went straight up to his room and shut the door behind him. Knowing that something was up, I went to the kitchen, grabbed and apple, then went into my room and shut the door behind me. Taking a bite of the apple, I pulled out my English notebook and began my homework.
About an hour later, I had just moved onto my science homework, when I heard a muffled noise coming from my dad’s room. I thought nothing of it and continued on with my homework. This happened a few more times in the next hour and when I was done with my homework, I walked downstairs to set the table, and a surprise was waiting for me.
Cracker Book Review
In the book Cracker by Cynthia Kadohata is about a young German shepherd who is taken away from her civilian home and transferred to an military base and trained to help soldiers by doing things such as sniff out bombs and booby traps and hidden men. She is then assigned to a soldier, Rick Hanski, who had joined the military to make a difference. It takes a while, but with the help of good handling and a few hot dogs, the two become inseparable. They go to war and face many missions and challenges together until the time finally comes for them to part.
I enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in dogs or the military. With the perspective changing between the soldier and the dog, you get the feel of the war through both pairs of eyes. Even though at some parts, it gets a little sad, this story is action pack and I ripped through the book in a few days.
Interview
In class, we interviewed Mr. Dee Christensen, Ms. Christensen’s dad. He is a Vietnam veteran and served as an army engineer. In this interview as followed, Janel is the interviewer and Mr. Dee Christensen is the interviewee.
Janel: What was your position in the army and what did you do? What types of projects did you work on?
Dee: “I was a Lieutenant engineer and basically ‘fought war against the supply system'”
J: Did you write letters/get any letters? If so, how often did you write?
D: “I only wrote a few, I’m not a very good writer.”
J: Did you have a partner or friends in the war? If so, is he still alive? Do you know anyone who is MIA?
D: “I had lots of friends, but my best friend got killed. Haha, we thought we could do anything.”
J: From your perspective, how bad was the war? How did you feel about being in the war? Did you feel like you personally accomplished anything?
D: “I think that I accomplished a lot and did what i needed to do, but I don’t think that I would be considered a ‘war hero'”
J: 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?
D: “I left on a 707 on a 20 hour flight and landed in California. I didn’t have a problem with threats. I was a truck driver in 1973 until gas prices went up.”
Tweets
Letter to Ms Christensen
Dear Ms. Christensen,
My name is Janel. I was born and raised in San Diego, California. I have a sister named Camille and two dogs. Cleo is a ten year old small german shepherd/chow mix. Max is my own Christmas present. He is now two years old and he is a black lab/pointer mix. I love to swim, in the pool and ocean, I also love to irish dance and play with my dogs.
I came to OTA because my family and I thought I wasn’t being academically challenged enough. I really want to achieve all A’s but I would be okay with one or two B’s.
Ever since I was in kindergarten I have dreamed of being a veterinarian to help to save and work with animals. I’m not sure if I want to be a marine animal vet or a pet vet. I have been told that I’m good at math although I don’t like it much. I don’t know if I’m good but i love making art, but not people in any way, shape, or form. I’m not the best at history unless its a topic I’m interested in. A way you could help me to meet my goals could be to help me with my math if I get stuck and to, if I reach that point, help me to complete extra work.
I love to read in my spare time. Most every fantasy/realistic fiction I will read. It takes some persuading of myself, the author and usually another person to get me to read another type of book. As I mentioned before I have a sister named Camille who excels at playing the violin. My mom is a nurse practitioner at a local urgent care in P.B. My dad works to sharpen and repair surgical instruments. Outside of school I enjoy relaxing, hanging out with friends, and swimming.
Well, that’s that! I look forward to to having a wonderful year with you as my teacher.
Sincerely,
Janel Sytko
Current Event: “Yawns are contagious among wolves just like humans and dogs”
For my first current event project I chose to do an article called “Yawns are contagious among wolves just like humans and dogs“. This article is from the website Newsla and was published on 09/07/14. This article is about how yawns not only occur when people are tired but also when someone else, usually someone they are close with, yawns. This can also happen between humans and dogs, dogs and dogs, and wolves and wolves. There were experiments conducted in Tokyo, Japan where they studied a family of wolves and how they responded when other wolves yawned. They found out that,
“the wolves were indeed more likely to yawn after another wolf near them yawned. But a yawn was more likely to prompt a follow-up yawn if the two animals had a strong social bond. Not only that, but among females, the closer the bond, the shorter the gap between the first and second yawn. Yawns were also more likely to be contagious if they could be seen, not just heard.”
Also there is a sort of similar effect with humans, they are more likely yawn if they’re best friend or close family member yawns, than if some random person next to them does.
I think that this idea of a chain link yawning reaction is awesome and especially the fact that dogs and wolves do the same thing is even cooler. My sister thought this was interesting because it involves different types of communication, one by sight and one by hearing. The author seems to not have a bias, but to just state the facts as they are.
Why Prohibition?
In the 1920’s the 18th Amendment declared Prohibition in the United States. Prohibition was when the transportation, manufacture, and selling of alcohol was prohibited. People of the US thought that drinking was unpatriotic, caused crimes and wasted people’s money. Unfortunately, gangsters got rich, and the government lost money, all because of Prohibition.
The idea for Prohibition came around during WWI. People thought it was unpatriotic to drink during WWI people believed the grain being used to make alcohol should have been sent to feed the soldiers. “During WWI, native born Americans developed a hostility to German-American brewers and toward other immigrant groups that used alcohol” (Jones 437). Fifty percent of crimes were being caused by alcohol. The Women’s Temperance Union was a group of women who were for Prohibition. They wanted to have Prohibition because their husbands were coming home late at night and beating people. Continue reading