Category Archives: Language Arts

Reading Analysis, Writing: Poetry and Prose, Drama & Theater, Grammar and Foreign Languages, Vocabulary-Powered Reading Practice.

Current Event #1, Q2: Taylor Swift’s upbeat view of music

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News ELA
11/17/14

The article “Taylor Swift’s upbeat view of music” tells about how Taylor pulled all of her music from Spotify because she thought it would benefit her career. By having her music on Spotify she wasn’t getting any money like she was with iTunes. She said, “Music should not be free,”. Like all artists want money for their music, she does too. Creating music is her profession, her career, and she’d like to benefit from it. “Music is art, art is important and rare. Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for,” she said in an article

I think that all music artists should be paid for their music. If they’re producing it, they should be paid for it. The author was unbiased. My classmate Autumn thinks, “I think that its good that she takes her career seriously, but it sucks for me cause I can’t listen to it on Spotify.”

JFK’s Assassination and How it Affected America

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John F. Kennedy was the 35th president of the U.S. As his years of presidency continued on, he saw the people were growing to love his ideas. He was “optimistic, funny, intelligent and forceful.” JFK was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald on November 22, 1963 while touring down town Texas. Kennedy’s assassination had a huge impact on the United States socially.

The effect of JFK’s death on society is still part of U.S. conversation, particularly among Baby Boomers. Baby Boomers are all the people born between 1946 and 1965, when it happened. The teens of the 1960’s called it a “haunting recollection”. Kennedy was the first TV president and we all still remember seeing him with his family. The pictures are still alive in our minds and hearts.

In popular culture, people are still making movies and hypothesizing who killed Kennedy. A quick google search reveals over 42 movies about JFK, the most famous of which is Oliver Stone’s JFK, made in 1991. There have recently been countless books published about JFK, such as James Watson’s End of Days published in 2013. The 50th anniversary of JFKs death spawned national dialogue about Kennedy, his presidency and his legacy. Even today in 2014, almost every American school child is taught his famous words: “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.”

Another social impact his assassination had was a loss of innocence for the U.S and the beginning of public mistrust for the government. Prior to his assassination the American public had a strong trust in the government due to our healthy economy resulting from WWII. We thought we had the most perfect country and when his assassination happened we didn’t know why or even how this could happen. Even though we had another president hours later, it was a huge shock because we couldn’t believe he was dead and we didn’t know who killed him. Even though Oswald killed him, there were and still are too many unanswered questions. Before, we really thought our country was a very peaceful, perfect nation. Every family tried to live that “perfect life” that didn’t exist. No flaws, no secrets, just perfection. Everyone really thought everybody liked Kennedy but obviously not. Who helped Oswald kill Kennedy? Will we ever know the truth?

JFK’s death divided the nation socially, from all of the images we have of him, from all of the dialogue in popular culture, and to our loss of innocence as a nation. Kennedy’s death  changed the way everyone looked and thought about America. One thing is clear: John F. Kennedy will be remembered now and forever.

Current Event #4: “Artwork shows a face of America, using many faces”

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News ELA
10/20/14

Today I read an article called “Artwork shows a face of America, using many faces“. It was about an artist, Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada, came up with an art piece yet it’s not normal art. It is made up of dirt, gravel, and sand. He took 30 pictures of different men and put them together to make one individual. He said “It’s one of hundreds of millions  of faces that America has, they’re all us”. The pictures represent the nation. 

I personally think this is really cool but it’s only up for a month. It will be removed on the 31st. My brother said. “I think it’s cool and I want to see it.” The author was unbiased.

My Hawaii Experience

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Have your ever had that feeling when you’re about to do something for the first time? Thats how I felt when I took the first step off a plat form 1,800 feet in the air. Zip lining in Hawaii was by far the best thing I’ve eve done.

I woke up one morning on my trip with the news that we were doing an “Island tour”, that included lots of hiking, kayaking, and zip lining with some stops in-between activities. When we had gotten to our meeting spot, we met up with our friends and tour guides. I wasn’t ll that excited that I had to kayak 2 1/2 miles but the experience was ok. My mom and I didn’t make that great of partners because we yelled at each other the whole time down the river and ran into the bushes. Finally it was over.

As we were walking through the jungle/rain forest to get to there truck that was taking us to lunch, I couldn’t believe how fresh and crisp the air smelled. It was all so fresh and organic compared to San Diego or anywhere else I have been. We finally made it to the truck and ate lunch. The amount of chickens in the Kauai is insane. They were everywhere while we were trying to eat. My brother was so excited to finally get to hold a baby chicken.

After lunch we had to get all of our zip lining gear on. That stuff is very uncomfortable and really not attractive. At this point I’m really excited, because this is what I’ve been waiting for the whole trip. Everyone around me is super nervous and I can feel it. We walked up the hill to the hipline and I hadn’t been paying attention…I looked up and saw what looked like a 20 foot latter. Before I could even ask who was going first, Maxx -my brother- and Dez -our friends daughter- were the first ones up there. After they got all the way to the end it was my turn. I got up to the platform that was only about 10ft long and 5ft wide and had no idea if I jump or just step off and let gravity, hopefully, do it’s job. All I heard was our tour guide say, “Ok. GO! Jump off.” So I did. The rush of excitement I had “flying” 8,000ft was amazing. Being above the trees was scary and exhilarating all at once. Before I knew it, it was over.

We walked back to the truck and it drove us to the river where a boat picked us up and took us back o meeting spot. I was really sad that experience was over but I’m happy that I get to go back and do it again over Christmas break.

Perfect Reality: Creative Writing

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Part 1:

I was lying down on my cold comforter when I began to take a short nap after looking at the alarm clock and seeing that I had 45 more minutes before I had to leave. Tired, I woke up about 30 minutes later and realized I was going to be late for school, I’m never late. I ran up stairs to get ready and headed out. As I was walking into school I heard a very familiar voice call out, “Nice outfit!” I turned around and saw it was Emily dressed in almost the same thing. Black tank, pink blazer that showed off out tiny curves, and a pink tight mini-skirt. All pink because it was Wednesday….and on Wednesdays we wear pink. We made it to first period just in time. It felt like this period took a life time to be over. After first period I walking out of class when I stopped dead in my tracks. Spencer Kingston. The hottest guy in school, captain of the football team. He was standing right in front of me, looking me straight in the eyes. I was too busy looking at him to notice that I had ran into him and my books were all over the hall way.
“Come on Mae! Let’s go. We’re gonna be late!” Em yelled at me while shaking my shoulders. “Get up! We’re gonna be late!”

Part 2:

“Let’s go, let’s go!” Emily yelled with a sharp and agitated tone. I looked at her while trying to rub my eyes clear. When I was fully awake, I was just lugging myself around. Reality ruined my life. Why couldn’t that dream have been real? We walked into school practically dead. Sweats, converse, white V-neck and hair in a “messy” top-not. As you can tell my dreams are pretty elaborate. I wish I looked like that. I was heading into first period not one bit excited to learn about World History. Unfortunately, after class Spencer wasn’t there for me to run into. I had cheer practice as my following period. Go Pointers right? I got to see Em and Spencer were at practice just across the field; he was a sight for sore eyes. I had an off campus lunch and that was pretty much the highlight of my day. I went to Panera and Starbucks like always; I had no idea what was coming next.

Part 3:

Hurriedly, I was headed back to school. After lunch I remembered I had to pick up Emily. I had to make a detour, we finally got back to school for last period. Bio, 10 minutes late, ugghh again. I sat chewing at the end of my pencil, day dreaming , not paying any attention. I was just so out of it from the night before, that I hadn’t realized that Emily put frog in my purse. After class I was digging around for my phone and found that stupid frog. Really Emily? I threw it and kept walking down the hall and to my car. On my way home I remembered I had to grab some groceries from Trader Joe’s. It seemed like I was stuck there for hours. Of corse my mom wouldn’t stop texting me things she needed me to pick up…ending with my brother Seriously? She wanted me to do that?? Once again out of my way. I pulled up to my house completely confused. My front door was propped open but my parents weren’t home yet. I stumbled into the with all the groceries not having any help from my brother. In the kitchen was a bouquet full if daisies (my favorite flower) with a card that read, “Look out side”. I look and saw a huge sign that said, “Homecoming?!?”, with a daisy painted next to it. Standing beside it was Spencer. I walked outside speechless, feeling the tears form in my eyes. Finally I was able to mutter the word “yes!”

Part 4:

The night was finally here. The night I’ve been dreaming about since I was a little girl. Going to homecoming with the cutest guy in school is just the icing on the cake. When we got there it was just as magical as I pictured it. We walked in and my favorite song was playing, “I’m yours” by Jason Maraz. We danced all night. I rested my head on his shoulder, swaying back and forth to the sound of the sweet music. I could smell his lightly misted cologne around his neck as my eyes began to close. I was just enjoying the night. It came to an end, unfortunately. As we drove away I could still hear the music drifting away. I leaned my head back against the car seat staring at him, embracing his presence. As he walked me up to my door he gently grabbed my soft and delicate hands. “I had a great time tonight. Thanks for going with me.” he mumbled out. He leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek. I felt my cheeks turn red as I flashed a smile. “See you Monday..” was the last thing I heard before I slowly swung open the door and had the best night sleep of my life.

Jabberwocky

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’Twas dark, and the golden soul
Did thrash and roll in the forest;
All monsters were the people,
And they hid with disguise.

“Beware the Grande, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Azalea bird, and shun
The famous creatures!”

He took his silver sword in hand;
Long time the vicious foe he sought—
So rested he by the tall tree
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in perplex thought he stood,
The Grande, with eyes of flame,
Came tumbling through the rough wood,
And breathing fire as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The sharp blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went straight back.

“And hast thou slain the Grande?
Come to my arms, my brave boy!
O great day! hooray! hooray!”
He yelled in his joy.

’Twas dark, and the golden soul
Did thrash and roll in the forest;
All monsters were the people
And they hid with disguises

Anne Frank #4

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Anne Frank finishes up when Miep brings over a piece of cake and it causes a bunch of chaos. Mrs. Van Daan wants to cut the cake but no one wants her to because they all claim she cuts bigger pieces for her and Mr. Van Daan. Everyone prefers Mrs. Frank to cut it because she will cut it all even. One night they all hear something coming from where they keep the food. When they go see what it is, it’s Mr.Van Daan stealing bread. Everyone gets really upset because it’s their food too, not just his. Anne and Peter’s relationship is getting a little more interesting. They always want to hang out and talk now but they will only talk in Peter’s room with the door shut. After a few days of this they are really close and one night Peter takes a wild risk; he kisses Anne! No one knows except Mrs.Van Daan. After this Anne has officially matured. After all the news commotion there is massive pounding at the door. It just completely changes everything. Mr.Frank opens the door and it’s a Gestapo. They are all taken out and all Anne is thankful for is to finally see the sun and be outside once more. In the end Anne matures from everything that happened between her and Peter. “Despite all that has happened, I believe people are still good at heart.” This last quote from Anne shows she matured from the two years she was in the annex

 

Second Part:

Mrs.Frank, Anne, Margot and Mrs. Van Pels are taken to a camp but Mrs. Van Pels is separated before they even get there. On January 6, 1945 Edith Frank passes away not being able to say good bye to her girls. Mrs. Van Pels is reunited with Anne and Margot but not much longer they both get very ill with typhus and pass. Margot dies, then Anne a day later.

The men end up a little different. They all end up together. Mr. Van Pels gets too sick to work and is gassed. No one knows exactly when Peter died but they estimate he died between April 11th or May 5th of 1945 from exhaustion. Mr. Dussel is deported in October 1944 and dies on Dec. 20th at 45. Otto is the only survivor and misses all his friends and family dearly.

Journal Entry #4

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“Between Shades of Gray” starts to end with Lina’s 16th birthday. She thinks everyone forgot but doesn’t know that they have a surprise party for her. Just when the “party” was ending they found out her father was still alive. One morning the NKVD burst into their hut giving them 10 minutes to get all their stuff to take them away. They were loaded onto trucks, separated alphabetically. When it’s their turn to get on, she says good-bye to Andrious and sits down to find their special stone. They were on their way to the dock to be put on boats, but got to shower and feast before then. They have been traveling for a couple weeks but don’t know where they are going. They are all going crazy on this boat. A woman has tried to kill her daughter then herself. Lina found out why she and her family have been deported and is really upset now. Another snowstorm has hit them, but even harder then before. They are down to eating frozen owls. On Jan.5 of the following year Elena Arvydus passed away. Lina and Jonas are planing to build a coffin for her instead of having the NKVD deal with her…or the foxes. When they went to bury her mother, Lina had a moment alone with her. After a few moments of silencs, she heard someone and it was one of the NKVD her mother had associated with. He came up to comfort Lina with her loss. The “man who wound his watch” finally died too. One morning when it was just Lina and Jonas, she saw something bright and shiny. The sunrise. The conflict at the end of the book was an internal conflict -ch. vs.self- because Lina was coping with the death of her mother and having to raise her brother. My favorite quote from the ending of this book was “A tiny sliver of gold appeared between shades of gray on the horizon”(336). It was my favorite quote because it was the quote the finished the book and tied everything together. It was a great ending.

Our Family Recipe

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This family recipe has been in my family for three generations, from my great-grandma, to my dad’s mother, to my dad. We have them at every family gathering. Everyone mainly fights over who takes home the leftovers (if any) but I usually get them. They’re my favorite. My great-grandma never makes them without a meat to go with but I don’t eat the meat because I am a vegetarian. None of my family knows where it comes from, we just know it’s been in our family for a long time.

Recipe:
32 oz. cut potatoes (can substitute hash browns)
1 medium onion diced
1 stick melted margarine
1 pt. sour cream
1 can mushroom soup (undiluted)
8 oz grated cheese

Directions: Mix all together and top with little grated cheese. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, until done and brown on top.