Dad

It was a bright sunny day in Abbottabad, Pakistan. It was around 95 degrees outside on that beautiful May 2^nd day of 2011. That was the day my own dad was shot and killed by the United States Navy Seal Team 6. He was just sitting there all innocent watching his daily cartoon, The Power Puff Girls on his small 12 inch analog television screen, and cuddled up in a blanket eating his favorite cereal Special K. Then all of sudden around 6 o’clock AM, a loud bang came to his door and men with guns drawn came shouting and screaming to “Give Up!” but my dad said “NO” and through his Special K at one of the men’s face. Then there was a loud BANG and that was the end, the end of my dad, his name was Osama Bin Laden.

Not so Lucky

“This is a short response about the themes in the story The Lottery; I will be supporting my evidence with text evidence.”

The story The Lottery is about where a town has a lottery, but instead of winning money they play with the fate of people’s lives. One example of theme in this story happens to be tradition, because throughout the story they talk about how this has been a tradition for their town for 100’s of years. Even one of the men participating, who also happens to be the oldest man in the town, says that he has done this town’s annual lottery for 27 years. Plus if this was not tradition to this town they would hopefully think it is inhuman to kill a person with rocks, but the reason why it isn’t inhuman to them is because it is a tradition to the town folk. Another odd thing that helps back up this tradition theme is that the friends of the woman, who is killed, pick up the biggest stones at her so she can die quick and less painful.

Another theme that stands out in this story happens to be death, because this entire town is revolved around this lottery that ends up killing someone in the end. The theme death is not in the beginning of the story because it starts out all innocent, like something you see in the movie, but then it slowly starts to go downhill from the moment the story begins. Those are the two main themes that stick out the most in the story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson.

The Crack In The Mirror

       As I sit upon an old mirror in a small compound in Pakistan, I gain dust more and more each day. No one really knows my story, it may be an odd one but people should know how I became a crack on a mirror. The year was 2011, as the new mirror sat above an old wooden dresser. A man, an evil man named Osama Bin Laden was brushing his long black beard in the mirror, when all of sudden the door came crashing down. 20 U.S. Navy Seals came running in guns drawn, shouting on the top of their lungs to give up. Then all of sudden there were multiple loud bangs and that’s all I can remember. That’s when I was created, a crack on a mirror made from a stray bullet. And that is the story of how I became a crack in a mirror.

What People will do to Survive

“This is an expository piece on the theme “Will to Survive” on the book’s Zach’s Lie and Jack’s Run by Roland Smith. I will talk about how the theme fits into both books and how it fits into the series.”

In the Zach’s Lie series, Jack Osborne (Zack) and his family are endangered by a drug cartel after their father is arrested for helping the drug cartel smuggle drugs into other countries by plane. The drug cartels leader Alonzo thinks Jack’s father knows too much and he is a danger to his business. Many people wouldn’t be scared, but the Osborne’s were and they would go to any measure to keep their family safe. Many people will do extreme things to survive even going to different places or even changing their identity to live a peaceful life, living a good life could be the most important thing to a human being.  The will to survive is in all of us, we will have to use our survival techniques sometime in our lives.

Even though there are two books in the series they both have the same theme. In Zach’s Lie this is where the real story begins, Zach and his family find out the hard way that his father has been doing dangerous life threatening work. The real theme starts to kick in when their family is put into witness family protection, which is just one of the few things they have done to survive this whole situation. They had to change their names, their hair colors, their eye colors, and even their lifestyles. The Osborne’s went from riches to rags, they had to become poorer and move to some random town in Nevada to survive which is another reason that proves the theme in book one. Also when Zach meets this girl he likes named Caitlin, he can’t tell her anything about what happened because he needs to survive and he does not want the bad guys to find him or his family. Those are just a few of the main points that make the theme “Will to Survive”.

In the second book Jack’s Run, there are a few examples of this theme in this second book. One type is quite similar to the first book and it is they had to move to another town, and change everything using witness protection again because Alonzo and his men found where they were before. Also more between the middle and end of the story Zach and his sister get captured by Alonzo’s brother, they have to use their minds in places they never have before. That is another piece symbolism of the theme of “Will to Survive”, also Zach even shot this one woman because she was going to kill him if he didn’t do anything to protect himself. Those are a few examples of the theme in the second book Jack’s Run.

In the end Zach and his family had to use their sense of survival to survive. Generally people wouldn’t believe that two books have the same theme, but these too books do. They both fit nicely into the theme “Will to survive” because in both books they are trying to survive and they would end up doing anything to stay alive. Both stories have their own ways of this theme, but there is some that are similar in both. The main reasons why they are the same is that in both books they are constantly in hiding from the cartels, and they can’t tell people who they really are so they can survive. Many things are the same in the series but they both have their own unique type of example for “Will to survive”.

John Brown's Raid

Who Was John Brown?

John Brown (1800-1859) was an American Abolishment, which meant he did not like slavery and he wanted to get rid of it. He did not believe in it what so ever, He believed that Christians should treat people the same no matter what color their skin was. Also John believed that it was acceptable to use violence to end slavery. Brown was a man of many children; he had around 20 children which all believed in the same thing he believed in. John grew up in Spring Field Massachusetts, before moving into the Kansas Territory. 

The Raid

In 1859, John Brown and his 5 sons were so fed up with the slavery that John decided that he was going to pull an attack on Harpers Ferry in Virginia. Harpers Ferry had a large Federal Arsenal of weapons, because he was going to get the weapons to the slaves so they could attack and kill their masters so they could be free at last. John thought his plan would work perfectly, he thought him, his sons, and a few other black men would ambush the arsenal, killing the guards/soldiers, taking the weapons and giving them to the slaves. But the thing John did not know, was that most of all the slaves he invited would not show up, causing them to be over powered by the Confederates. Brown was captured when all of his sons were shot and killed, and he was hung on December 2, 1859.

Why was this important the Civil War?

There are many people who believed that this is actually what started the Civil War, because people believed that he had such a strike on the states. There was never such a violent abolishment attack before this raid, which is what shocked the Confederates. This is why this was a very large cause for the start of the civil war.

Cell Research Paper

“This is a compare and contrast research paper on 4 different types of human body cells, which the one that are in this piece happen to be Osteroblast (Bone Cell), Erythrocyte (Red blood cells), Mytocyte (Muscle Cells), and Neuron (Nerve Cell). There will be information about all the cells, and a compare and contrast of all 4 cells.”

Cells are what make up all living things; they hold everything together, somewhat like building blocks. The human body can hold trillions of cells; all different types all different sizes, shapes, and colors. They do everything from providing structure, change nutrients into energy, and even carry out specialized functions. Another thing is that cells also are what make up our hereditary material and they even make copies of their own cell structure (Genetics Home Reference). Cells are what make up the structure of every living thing in the world, however many people wouldn’t believe that cells are important when cells are the most important thing in all living organisms in the world.

Although there are trillions of different types of cells here are a few. Bones are made up of cells called Osteroblast, that’s what gives the cells the hardness and toughness. The Osteroblast help the bones grow and repair themselves over time. Blood is what helps the cells, get food and takes away the waste from the bones. If bones weren’t made up of Osteroblast, broken bones would never heal on their own. That’s why it’s so important that we have cells in our bones called Osteroblast (Discovery Communications Inc.). Another type of cell, are Erythrocyte’s or better known as Red Blood Cells. The main function of the Erythrocytes or Red Blood Cells is to move oxygen throughout the body. This certain cell has no nucleus and has a lifespan of about 120 days. They circulate the oxygen through tissues picking up carbon dioxide as they go, which carbon dioxide is the main waste product that is formed in the cell. The cells have a doughnut or circular shape to them and they are relatively small. The contain pigment hemoglobin which is what gives the red color. They also assist the cells when carrying oxygen and the carbon dioxide (Scott).

However those are just a few cells, here are a few more types. Mytocyte cells are the main cell in the muscles; the main function of the Mytocyte is to facilitate movement throughout the entire human body. The way that these functions are achieved, are by adjusting, or contracting the tissues that are in your muscles. For example skeletal muscles allow you to move freely to certain consent. A great example is that they allow you to turn your neck sideways but not 360 degrees (State Government of Victoria). The Mytocyte cell is the basic unit of all the muscles in your body. The three main types of muscles are skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle. Skeletal muscle cells form controllably, or voluntary, for example like the muscles found in your legs. The smooth muscle and cardiac muscles form uncontrollably, like the muscles that are in your heart and stomach (Discovery Communications Inc.). One more cell is the Neuron or the nerve cells; they are the main cells that are in your nervous system. There are a few main functions of the Neurons are to carry messages throughout our body, to receive, and to pass electrical impulses. The neurons happen to be the smallest unit of the entire nervous system, which sends signals to the rest of the body to do what the brain, wants it to do, for an example our brain tells the heart to beat, your diaphragm to breathe, or your eyes to blink (Poe).

Generally people wouldn’t think cells are that important, but they really are, they do everything in our body and our bodies are made out entirely of cells. Those 4 cells all had things in common and things not in common. For example all of these cells have a different purpose, the bone cell helps the bone keep its strong body and the red blood cells help get bad waste out of our blood. Some things these cells have in common is that they all support our bodies needs in some way, the nervous system cells allow us to get senses and emotions to our brain to decode what is happening, and the muscle cells allow us to gain muscle, and allows our heart to beat on its own. They all don’t have a certain size or shape because they all vary, besides the red blood cells. Their size is very small and they are also doughnut or circular shaped (Scott).

However, in the end cells are the most important thing in all living organisms. They hold us together, get the bad stuff out of our bodies, and even make us have senses. Every single cell in our body has their own job, to keep us and all living organisms living and keeping us who we are as the world’s life forms.

Bibliography

Discovery Communications Inc. Skeletal System. 2000. 17 April 2012 <http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/body/pg000124.html>.

Genetics Home Reference. What is a Cell? 6 April 2012. 17 April 2012 <http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/basics/cell>.

Poe, Brandon. Function of Neurons. 6 November 2003. 19 April 2012 <http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2003-11/1068145050.Cb.r.html>.

Scott, Ann Senisi. "Red Blood Cells." Scott, Ann Senisi. Body Structures and Functions . Delmar Cengage Learning, 2004. 384.

State Government of Victoria. Posture . 26 March 2012. 18 April 2012 <http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Posture>.

Social Studies RAFT Piece

Dear American People,

My name is Jacob Norris, I have been working in the coal mines since I was 3, I’m 5 now and I spend all my days down in those dreadful coal mines. Trust me there are not fun, I work in the dark most of the time besides the small light on my helmet, and some days I even go without rest, food, or water. If I don’t get my work done the boss beats me until I’m numb, that’s not right at all. The reason why I’m working is because my dad left my mom, and my mom is paralyzed from the waist down so she can’t work. Being the only child in the family, I’m also the man in the house, so I need to work to support my family. I spend about 18 to 21 hours a day down in those mines picking at the wall with my pick axe. Also, I’m five years and smoking tobacco out of pipes, because we can’t afford cigarettes. We can barely afford my habits, but I didn’t know any better. It’s my only friend down here in these mines. But I don’t think I will be able to get to be 12 by the conditions I’m working. I really need to get out of these parts because I will end up dying at a young age, I will develop lung problems or even cancer, no child deserves this, I can barley pick up my pick axe because it’s so heavy. I just want someone to help me… Please

Sincerely,

Jacob Norris