Social action #2

I have finished reading Freak the Mighty Rodman Philbrick. The question that best fits this story is that Freak's perspective is missing. The story is about Maxwell Kane and how he is low self esteem and calls himself a "butthead." He meets a boy named Kevin and has a disease that makes him wear crutches and leg braces and thinks himself as a robot.  Kevin or "Freak" moves in and is a neighbor of Max. When Max gets Kevin's toy from the tree, that is the start of their friendship. After escaping a gang, they start calling themselves "Freak the Mighty" and go to places like the hospital and Freak will say stories of how it has bionic things in there. Freak has and emergency in school and Max finds out that his father killed his mother throughout the story and is kidnapped by his father on Christmas eve. Loretta, wife of the leader of the gang that tried to capture Freak and Max tries to save Max. Max's father gets her and strangles her and Max says that that is how he killed his mother. His father is then tired to convince him into joining that he tries to strangle him. Freak saves him and he is captured. Max testifies and his father is in jail. Freak has a seizure and dies later on his birthday. Max writes a story about them.

If Freak had a perspective, it would be a different story because it would show us how he felt about the disease he had and the adventures he had with Max. He could have said how his life was going until Max changed his whole life and how good it felt with Max. He could have said how it felt to help Max when they were in trouble. Also, Freak was different than Max because he couldn't walk properly, he was small and weak but very smart. Max was big and strong, but not very smart. It showed that opposites can accomplish a lot if they work together. The only thing they helped their friendship was that both of them had weak spots where one of them had it and the other didn't. Example, Freak was smart and Max was dumb. The important part of the story where it should have had Freak's perspective was his final moments because it could have shown how did he know that if he told Max he was dying that that was going to break his hope. What type of emotions did he have. Sad that he will die young? Happy because he changed someone's life?

All in all, the book was sad. It didn't have a happy ending that I thought it would have. Though it taught me that people can be anything if they work together. Different people that have different problems and tell them about those problems learn they are the same. All problems are the same even if they look like bigger problems because they are just problems that we face everyday. This is what the book taught me.

Social Action Response

I have finished reading a book called Sold by Patrica McCormick. The question I choose to anow does swertion question number 6: how does money figure in this text? In my book Sold, money had a lot to do in this story. It talked about how a girl is sold into prostitution because they are deeply in debt. The stepfather gambled everything they had and had no choice but to do this. She was tricked that she was going to be a maid and didn't know that and just went with them. Lakshmi is the girl who was the girl  in the story trying to pay off all of the debt and go home to her family being a special person to them.

This wouldn't have happened if her family was in debt. The stepfather kept gambling too much and was a fool to spend all of his money when he knew they didn't have much money other objects that will help have a lot of money. When Lakshmi went to the city, she was all alone and found out about how she was tricked tried to get out but couldn't because she couldn't speak the language they spoke and she didn't have the money to go back home. She was deeply in debt too because she had to pay 20000 rupees to her owner in order for her to go back home and her family having a lot of money.

I never knew that money can lead you to this. The fact that you have a nice life because you have your mom with you and your baby brother too. She has a home she can live in. That all changes when her family is in desperate need of money and have no choice but to send her to a place far from her home and a place where people are ruthless for money. Money was important to the owner who brought Lakshmi than the fact that she hurts all of the people she had by ruining their bodies and ruining their images of how home looked like. She ruined the change of views these girls had when they first came in as innocent people for one reason and it was for money. She was greedy thatrurined her life and she did everything in order to get money.

Social Awareness

Brian Martinez

Social Awareness Project

            November 22, 2012- In the website NYTimes.com, there was an article on abortion in Ireland that left people thinking. The mother asked for it when she had a miscarriage, but the doctor said no.  She kept asking for one when she learned that the baby wasn’t going to be alive and die. This case went to Parliament to discuss about the topic of abortion. The votes were tallied and abortion was legal only if the woman’s life was in danger. People agreed to this because they want to stop this and don’t want 2 people’s lives in danger.

            I think that this is fair. If the mother’s life is in danger, then let her do it. It is one thing to let the baby die or let it out his or her misery, but two people shouldn’t die from this. It is tragic that her baby died, but what if the mom has other kids? Who will take care of them if the mom is dead? It is a sad thing to let the baby die, but it was suffering and you can help it by doing this. It is only wrong if the mother doesn’t want the baby. It is a crime if she does it for this reason because you are killing a living person. I have learned that there are some times when you have to do a thing you are totally against, but if it means saving you and another person and no other option, then you have to do it.

            November 23, 2012- In MSNBC.MSN.com. There was an article where Congo rebels won the U.N. This battle made the U.N withdraw their troops. Both sides tried to take over Sake when everyone in Sake all left their homes as they tried no to get killed. The U.N looked for allies to help them and tried to take down the leaders of Congo. They took down the president of Congo because he was buying weapons for the middle east. They also did the same with their commander. They went to Uganda to handle the problem there too.

            There are problems all over the world like this that is happening. There are places that are trying to stop this like the United Nation. Though more countries need to step in and also try to stop these wars. The more there is, the quicker and easier it is to stop these wars and to stop the leaders. If we can do this then we can prepare ourselves with the future wars that might come and the leaders that might lead them to the wrong direction

            November 24 2012- New York Times Newspaper.  A story about an antigay crime occurred in Washington D.C 4 a.m. and a man was hit and robbed and heard the man said hateful things to him. This wasn’t the only crime that happened. 12 more crimes like this happened and the police haven’t done anything. The chief though gave 100 thousand dollars to make a place for them and made the police to always check those neighborhoods so they can check if there aren’t crimes like that. The public is saying that she hasn’t done much than those things because she didn’t put that crime as an anti-gay, she just put that as a regular crime which made people think she wasn’t with their side. Some people still question her because she hasn’t stopped a crime yet.

            I learned that even the most things you do aren’t enough for the public and their thinking of safety. The chief has done a lot of things to stop or tried to stop the crimes. She has given 100 thousand dollars and even changed some rules and units to stop them. I have only read this article and it sounds like she has been doing all she can. She isn’t a robot or a superhero that can magically make all of these problems disappear.

She is going one step at a time focusing what problems have to be faced first. I think she is going to the right direction.

            November 27, 2012- An article about a protest in Cairo, Egypt.  Mohamed Morsi, the former president of Egypt made a few changes to the government on the last day of his presidency. The people of Egypt made riots and protests about how they felt at him. They were throwing stones and tear gas at the police. They made songs about Mohamed Morsi and how he has made problems to the great nation. They also sang about how he is a killer and they were blaming them for all of the problems. Sixteen year old boy died from a fight between a police officer and the same thing happened to a fifteen year old.

            I learned that the people of Egypt have been fighting for so long for a reason. They want freedom from dictatorship and have a fair government. Every time they think they are free, another problem comes in and starts to make other problems showing them that there is more to improve. They will never have a perfect government because history shows it like ours isn’t perfect, but it is fair. That is what they need, to have freedom and a government that they don’t need to be afraid of any more. A government that they can rely on, not perfect because in the world nothing is perfect, you can only make it good or something that has freedom in it.

            November 28, 2012- New York Times Newspaper. In the article I just read about it talked about a bombing that happened near the capital of Syria. The bomb killed at least 47 people. People were also saying that in Turkey, the rebels took down a government aircraft near the country. The rebels showed videos in YouTube about the plane and a witness saw the plane going down to throw bomb but it couldn’t because  the rebels were shooting at it. The video also showed the pilot being dragged away and a voice saying “he was going to destroy people’s homes.” The rebels have taken down military helicopters in recent months and have stolen weapons too to take down the military aircraft.

            I learned that some people are fighting because they feel like they need to. The rebels are only doing this because they are afraid that the government will kill them all. The government looks like they are doing this because to prevent the risk of the rebels from killing them and controlling them also. No one knows who the bad guy is because both of them fight for good reasons. The rebels keep shooting the down the aircraft, but they brutally kill them when they are down already. The government tries to stop the rebel groups by bombing their headquarters when they also are putting civilians in risk by destroying their homes and lives. I think both sides need to figure out how to solve this problem without innocent people’s lives in danger.

Brian Martinez

807

Social Awareness

            In the book Sadako and a Thousand Cranes by Eleanor Coerr talked about a girl who had Leukemia because of the Nuclear Bomb that had hit her town in Japan in the year 1945, the year when World War 2 has ended. She was born around the 1970s and was struggling with her class work. When they found out what she had, they couldn’t find a cure for it. She wasn’t the only person who had it, there was a young boy who was younger than her and she was 15 years old. The boy died before her and it kept making her sad. One of her classmates told her of the legend of the thousand cranes and it said that if you made on thousand paper cranes, the gods were going to heal her. She died when she was up to her 600^th crane. This was based on a true story. There is an organization that was inspired by this and told people that every time they made a paper crane, it would give the people who have leukemia 10 dollars for research. The Japanese towns where the Nuclear Bomb has hit, most of the kids living there have leukemia and are fighting it.

            It took people 25 years to find out that they had leukemia, but by then it was too late for them. The book was sad and it made me feel very bad about the kids I Japan that have leukemia right now because of that awful bomb. That bomb has made destruction to the two towns that were hit by the bomb, killed innocent people that had nothing to do with the war. The destruction of this made it even worse when their kids have gotten this disease that they can’t cure. Sadako who was one of the unlucky ones was sadly diagnosed with this and couldn’t finish her goal which was the only thing giving her hope. It was making her forget about what she had and where she was. She was also giving people she met hope by saying this, she has giving hope too. She couldn’t finish this, but inspired people to do something about this disease.

            It got me thinking, how can this have happened to them? Sadako was just a girl who wasn’t born until 25 years later after the bomb. She didn’t do anything wrong to deserve this and so did the other children too. This disease might not have happened if the bomb hasn’t blown them up. I want to know what happened with Sadako’s parents. Why didn’t they get it? They were probably around that time or born around that time. How can they handle their loss? It must have been hard to see their daughter die, but to see her die when she wasn’t finished with what she was doing must be even harder.

            This book had a lot of emotions. It made me think about the children suffering in Japan right now fighting leukemia. I never knew that stuff like this was happening around the world and mostly in Japan. The late 1900s and early 2000s must be a hard time right mow. First the bomb that nearly killed the whole population in those two towns. Second the fact that they had to rebuild the whole destruction which might have cost a lot of money and later finding out that they have leukemia. Last year they had an earthquake in Japan that they are still rebuilding. I feel very sorry for them and we all ha

Brian Martinez

807

Social Awareness

            There are a lot of things in life that affect us in the world.  What I see every day when it comes to social awareness isn’t a lot. Homeless people, poverty. That is all I see. I guess I am lucky that I don’t live in a neighborhood where a lot of bad activity happens. I don’t need to worry about the people who live in my neighborhood. We see people who live in poverty because of money problems. We also see the wreckage of the hurricane that left people cold or without electricity.

            It is unfair that people live in poverty or homeless because they tried to keep up with their rent and tax money. Some of them lost their jobs making them lose their homes also. They tried everything to not end up what they are now. Some don’t have a lot of money because of injury from work like a construction worker and don’t have the money to pay the bills. Money, debt and injuries are the most reasons why they are homeless and we sometimes see that in my neighborhood. I think the solution to this problem is to give the people more time to pay all his debt or give the person higher wages to stop this.

           

ve to help one another and countries like Japan.

Green Mile Part 2: Mouse on the Mile

In my book Mouse on the Mile by Stephen King, it taught me that even the smallest things have a big purpose. It can make a certain group or person happy and forget where he is. It can also change the way of how a person once was. A greedy or evilish man to a nice or can understand people's emotion. The small thing cam affect how a person view things or learn the truth that he never knew before. No one ever realizes this until that thing leaves your life or you leave.

Paul, a man who works in the Green Mile sees a mouse come in the prison and Paul gives him food. Every sees him and start to call him Mr. Jingles because he is a unique mouse. Percy though hates it because he wants to be a tough man who he believes everyone should respect. The  mouse learns tricks and makes people happy; they forget where they are for the prisoners and the police forget all the people who have died in the electric chair. They see that Mr. Jingles only stays with Paul and the rest of the policemen when Percy isn't there. They think that it was just a mistake but later learn that Mr. Jingles is actually smart. They realize he is the hope of  prisoners and a warning for when John Coffey comes in that he is actually an innocent men.

Percy believes he is a man that people should respect because he is the nephew of the govenor. All he ever wanted was to be a witness of a exectution and then leave the job. Paul doesn't like the job, but after the years of working he got used to it. These are two different people who think differently. Paul wants the prisoners to do something right while Percy wants them to suffer for what they have done. Paul wants Percy to lteave because he thinks he has ben causing all the trouble. On the other hand, they might be afraid of John Coffey because he is 6''8 and stockey. Some of them are also racist. Paul thinks he will be the hardest to protect because he is African. In the world, racism will always separate people even if they are nice. There will always be a lot, but always a group or more who are racist.

After the book, John Coffey was in and Percy was in a fight. Percy would never learn that he isn't a man that he says he is. He only picks on the prisoners who are in chains and are about to die. He even picks on a mouse. Paul is a nice man and never wants to see people dead which he doesn't know.

Non-Fiction RR

In the article "Hurricanes and Human Choice" by Roger Pielke Jr. it showed how Hurricane Sandy was the strongest hurricanes in New York. It was rated 17 overall for how much money the damages will cost which is 20 billion. The past year, storms and tornados have made 553 people die from these natural disaters. This number of deaths was common around 1953 through 1954 when stroms like Sandy were natural. If other storms like Katrina and from  the 1900s then it would have made more deaths, more damage and more money to repair the damage. The only reason that these storms are big are because there are more people and more houses than there was in the 1900s so more money.

In the article, the author said "If the recurrence of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake today, for example, then it will cost more lives and more than 300 billion dollars." It shows how New York is weak if stuff like this happens. The geography of New York is bad when natural disaters come in because they are close to the water and the water is close to the buildings. There might be more disaters like this and people are saying that they have to be ready for when it hits them or they can die. They don't want to take risks.

"The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 tops the list  as it would cause 180 billion dollars if it were to strike toaady. Hurricane Katrina ranks fourth with 80 billion dollars." Everything would pile up if it would hit New York. No one expected stuff like this to happen. Nothing like this ever happened before since two years ago and goes way back to the 1950s. Everybody thought it was a joke that a hurricane was coming until it hit them. No hurricane would hit New York because it would just die out and be a rain storm.

I have come to understand that weird stuff is happening and it is hurting us. People have lost homes and electricity. Some of them might have lost their loved ones too after this tragic hurricane. Gas is running out and transportation is very hard too. People lost hope and it is hard for them for missing a whole week of work and seeing how they can't go to work either. Though like we are, we will find hope  and over come this obstacle.

Improved Response

Ned Vizzini made a powerful book about depression and drugs and how it can affect us. In It's Kind of A Funny Story. It showed many people what can happen if you go the wrong direction and how lucky I am to be fine. I never knew how many people are depressed and how many lost their ways by taking drugs. It taught me everything you fought for and dreamed of doing, you will lose it by going the wrong way. Everything you prepared for is shattered and you go into a different world of being alone and lost. They have no job, no money, but all they have is an addiction or a problem.

Craig had everything he wanted. Friends, a home, and being in the top high schools of the nation. Everything he did he thought was because he was lucky. He studied the whole year and then he gave up on it. His friend Aaron made him do drugs. He was losing focus on school. He was very busy with homework that he had no time to relax. He couldn't handle it anymore. He was afraid if he told someone he was depressed and taking medication, people would think he is crazy. He was starting to feel alone. Never in my life have I felt that way before. I would sometimes think it, but never that lost nor alone.

When he was in the hospital, he met different types of people. People who cut themselves, did drugs, homeless people. It made him look like he was normal compared to the other patients. When Smity told Craig about his best friend Humble, Smitty said" He takes a lot of medication. Zorloft, vaccines you name it he takes it." It showed Craig that even how normal people might seem, you don't know their story. He liked Nia and found out she is depressed too. Craig wanted to do something to help them and show them the right direction. He wants to be on the right track, not going to the bad one.

Though Craig wanted to be with someone who is like him, he still thanks someone he doesn't know to not be "bad" or "messed up." All he wants is to live his life and not waste his life studying. Some don't realize people aren't as "normal" as they seem. They sometimes have to thank themselves for not being in the wrong direction. This is what it taught me.

Reading Response for independent reading book

In Power of Six by Pittacus Lore, John who is number four and the ones the Mogadorians are trying to hunt and the other 6 Lorien people, is confused and lost about evrything. He doesn't know what to do without Henri or where to go and find the other people who needs to unite with. He doesn't know what is the best of him when he is alone or trying to survive on his own and looks for places he has never been in.

When he went back to Paradise, Ohio, he went back with Sarah when he was supposed to help Six and find his chest then leave with the sundial Sam said about. All he wanted to do was come back to the place he had real friends with the place he actually called home. "I wanted to be in the place I made my first friend, the place I called home, the place I had  my first Legacies, but met my first Mogadorians." Everything was being just right and was hoping he can stay there forever, but with the mistakes he did, and what he did o expose himself he couldn't come back. Paradise is a distraction to him and it led him to trouble.

John wanted to be in one place because he didn't want to keep moving from one place to another. He lost it when he lost Henri. He found his way back when he knew he can't trust no one anymore or people he wants to be with them. He got his way back when he said he was going to get his and Six's chest back to them. On the other hand he was going to die because it was the headquarters of the Mogadorians and knew Bernie Kosar can't come with Sam and him or Six too.

Even though John lost his friend Sam, and couldn't find Six's chest found number nine who is as strong as John. Everyone has their legacies now and are stronger meaning they can beat the Mogadorians. John lost everything, but he has most of the numbers to save the world and though the charm is broken that means everyone can get killed now; the have their powers.