Category Archives: Language Arts
The Drought of California
California is running out of water. Yet according to California water usages, this desert uses more water than any other state in America. Why is that? Its because this place is a natural desert where people water their lawns, grow their plants, wash their cars, and waste lots of water. Something needs to be done about this and fast, time is running out and this problem is growing, not shrinking.
One thing that is wasting a lot of water in California is Nestle’s water bottling. In Sacramento, Nestle is buying and bottling water from California. This bought water needs to stay in California. Ever since 2010 the plant has been producing bottles of water to sell. Whats weird is that not all the water stays in this state. Why take water from a state in a drought and sell it away? I don’t know but it angers others who are now protesting for their water. In the company’s defense, Nestle says 80% of the bottles stay in California and the amount of water they bought isn’t a big number (less than 1%) (sacbee.com). Still, that water needs to stay in this drying desert little amount or not.
A bigger problem in California is agriculture. According to the Washington Post, around 80% of California’s water goes to agriculture. Because of that, this state is a lead producer of almonds, milk, and grapes. Unfortunately, things like almond trees require a lot of water. Eight percent of all of California’s water supplies go to almonds (almonds.com). Abcnews.go.com says that almonds in this desert consume 1.1 trillion gallons of water a year. Something needs to change. This non-native plant takes up too much water. Agriculture can’t be sustained if it’s going to leach from what little water California has left. Some say that CA needs to keep growing almonds and other plants because many of the countries food supplies rely on California’s produce because 99% of all almonds in America are from California. Still, I believe that there should be a cut on how much water can go to this parched state’s agriculture.
California is drying up. There is not a long future ahead because the LA times says “We have 12 to 18 months left of water supply”. That’s not long, not long at all. That is of course how much time California has left if the state expends water like it does now. Conserving water is the only option or we face water depletion. What’s cool is that you can do things to help. One thing is not to buy water bottles that came Nestle’s factory in Sacramento, another is to not water plants. What plants that can live here can live here but what can’t shouldn’t. Also, you take shorter showers and buy less water draining foods. These are things that can help California from drying up into some raisin of a state.
The Final Stand
Inspired by American Gothic
The lady
on the left half of the picture
staring directly at
the mans neck
he stands
shoulder in front of her
unaware that his wife is a vampire
still, he holds his Melon-spearing fork
in front of him
protecting his house and wife behind
from the packing peanuts of doom
he isn’t worried
even if he knew his wife was a vampire
it won’t matter because
this is his final stand
he won’t let and packing peanuts by without a fight
unfortunately, his wife is getting hungry
she will eat him
unless he finds out
That she is wearing
SPF 1000000
Response to “We Real Cool”
“We die soon”; that is the ending line in the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks. That line brings a question why would anyone say, we die soon? Discovering the poetic elements in this helped me understand why these sentences and techniques were used.
The identification of these elements gave me the power of its message. I perceived this message as a warning. A warning to the young reader about not ending up like the seven at the golden shovel. Now I know what not to do.
There were three main literary devices used in the poem. This includes repetition, alliteration, and assonance. Repetition was used through the entire poem. Every sentence had “We” in the beginning. An example is ” We real cool/We left school”. Using the word “we” before every line gives the poem a steady rhythm.
Another contribution to the rhythm was assonance. Assonance, very similar to rhyming, was incorporated throughout the writing. “We real cool/We left school”; cool and school have repeating vowel sounds. The same with “late and straight”. Assonance in many of the lines evens out the pace of the poem and makes it catchy.
The third and final element was alliteration. In my opinion, it was the least helpful element in the poem. It was there, but not everywhere. “Lurk late…strike straight” didn’t add to much of anything except more catchiness. This might have been different if alliteration was in the whole poem.
Gwendolyn Brooks, the writer of the poem must have had some inspiration. I assume that because she focuses on such specific things, they aren’t general ideas. I can infer that she got her inspiration from some people she must have seen out of school. They must have showed her all she needed for her poem throughout their body languages and faces. They must have had the look saying “we are soooo cool”. Thinking about these ideas has helped me understand the poem and its message. I can now enjoy the poem now that I understand.
Understanding the poetic elements got me to understand the theme and message. Thanks to going over the uncertain parts and themes of the poem, I am enlightened and I have no more questions.
The Help Book Review
The Help was a very good story. I give it a 4/5. It showed the perspective of two African American women and white woman. That is what made the story so diverse and interesting. It was about the challenges the three women encounter when they come together to make a book about the life of black maids in the south. The trio take risks because they believe that they are doing the right thing even if their lives are at stake. This story opened my eyes to what life must have been for black women in the civil rights movement because life was so different back then. I would recommend this story to someone who is studying the civil rights movement.
Motivational Speakers Compare and Contrast
Martin Luther King Jr, a very, very, very good motivational speaker. He fought peacefully for freedom and equal rights influencing others to do the same. President Dwight. D. Eisenhower, a very popular president of the U.S. He inspired the citizens with his knowledge and experience. While MLK Jr and Ike are two famous speakers, their Tones and purposes in their speeches of the “I have a Dream” speech and the Farewell address have quite a few differences.
One of the many contrasts in the two speeches is the purpose. Eisenhower says in his address, “This evening, I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts with you, my countrymen.”. This shows the purpose of the speech, to say a final goodbye. In MLK Jr’s “I have a dream”, he says, “I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.”. His purpose is clear, to focus on the great act of freedom towards blacks or other races. He believed it was time for desegregation and racial equality.
Another of the differences about the two speeches and their speakers was the tone. The tone varies based on the purpose. As an example, Martin Luther King Jr had an inspiring and determined tone because it goes well with the subject he talked about. He described things with lots of imagery like “Cash this check….that will give us….the riches of freedom.”. Ike’s tone was different. He was addressing America to say goodbye and warn the U.S of the Military Industrial Complex. This subject merited the somber and serious tone from the president.
Although Eisenhower and MLK Jr wrote very famous speeches, like the Farewell address and the I have a dream speech, the two are very different in style like the tone and purpose. These differences draw the people apart in terms in writing and speaking. Without their writings, the world would be a different place. We wouldn’t know about the Military Industrial Complex and equal rights wouldn’t be the same. That is what makes the speeches so important to history.
Unit 4 Summary
After WWII, colonies got their freedom others had to fight for it. Vietnam was one of those colonies that had to fight. France wanted Vietnam back as their colony. They were defeated by the Vietnamese so the U.S took charge of the war, using the Tonkin Gulf Resolution as an excuse to officially enter a war against Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Cong. As the war raged on, the U.S started to loose more and more battles upsetting the public, starting anti war protests. Then came Richard Nixon, the 37th president and the last to be part of the Vietnam war. America signed a peace treaty in 1973.
Current Event #4
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The Antikythera Mechanism, what seemed like a hunk of bronze to scientists turned out to be far more interesting. Years and years after discovering the curious object scientists finally realized the item’s value. Turns out it was something to predict eclipses and where planets, the sun and moon were to be. This was all accomplished by a complex array of gears. The object was found on a sunken ship by divers who stumbled upon it by accident. Researchers believe that the machine was made around 205 B.C. If the Antikythera was really made in that time period, scientist will assume it was connected to the brilliant greek man Archimedes. Unfortunately, the man died before the guessed date of its creation. In the present day, some people are referring to it as the worlds first analog computer.
This is a crazy invention, it’s like a mystery treasure box waiting to be opened. I believe that what scientists find in there will have their minds blown away. “I am in awe of the level of thinking and advanced creations that were happening back during that time. We tend to think that we are advanced, but there are many examples such as this Antikythera that suggest some of the inventions are just as impressive if not more so than the technology that we posses today.” were the thoughts of my parent. The author/s had no bias just simply sharing the facts about the interesting piece of work found long ago.
The Timekeeper
Chron’s subconsciousness floated around in the realm of timesleep, it gradually came back to its owner, then waking him from his slumber. When he awoke, Chron knew something was different. He had a feeling that today was the day. It was the day he would become a learner of timekeeping. Chron rolled out of bed and got ready for the world ahead. Wearing his best clothes, and his brand new shiny black and gold cloak he strolled out of his house with a feeling of pride. Now, he was ready to go to the Time Palace.
Virtual Labs…. Good or Bad?
Colleges like Cal State Los Angeles are using an online lab to conduct their science experiments. With these computer simulations, people are able to lots of things and are able to save money for equipment. There are good and bad things to this new way of science. The good thing is that one, its cheaper, it gives instant results, and help people get through the necessary science courses to graduate. On the other hand, these online experiments are unrealistic. They give instant results unlike a real experiment where you would have to wait. The program gives a simulation and doesn’t prepare students for the real world of science.
The author had no bias and stated the pros, cons, and opinions of the colleges and people. I think that these online labs are cool but not good because people need to really conduct the research and do the experiment. It doesn’t prepare people for the real world. My parent thinks its practical but it can’t replace hand-on science. It lets kids work on concepts without the struggles of materials, safety, time, and money. In addition it can help kids focus on key understandings without introducing too many variables.