Final blog post

Maze Runner

                    I have finally finished the book "Maze Runner" by James Dashner. A boy named Thomas who is put into this place called the glade. Its really secret and every bodies confused about this "Glade". Once they come through the box they all lose memory. There are a group of boys and one girl and they are stuck in the glade trying to escape. These kids are called "Gladers". A big moral in this book is vital information should not be kept in secrecy. Everybody should have s sense of what going on.

                    Thomas is thrown into the Maze and is completely clueless. Surrounded by people he doesn't even know. Alby finds him in the box. Once a month a new Glader is always arriving. Alby shows him around but doesn't let any vital information out. "What are those things?" Thomas asks. Thomas was so irritated because of anything asks about the glade, he ignores him. This shows the secrecy that is being kept from the newbies and they leaders of the group. The newbies in this book are called grennie. Information should not be kept  from anybody unless it will cause a problem.

                     As Alby was showing hm around he met the others. Alby was a main part of the group because hes been in the maze for the longest, two years. He knows a lot about the maze that isn't telling the greenies. Again on that tour Thomas was on with, Thomas asked  “What was that? and it seemed like Alby got really mad.  “No questions till the end, shank. How many times I gotta tell ya?” He paused, then let out a sigh. There is obviously that is being kept between them and it seems really important. Thomas may be able to help from escaping the maze.

                    Should vital information be kept? No, because maybe if other people could know about the issue they can contribute to it. If they all work together they can maybe escape and be free. Why is he keeping it secret? Will it cause a problem? If something is going to call a problem where there will be lots of trouble then you may keep it a secret but other than that Alby can tell Thomas, so he can help.

Response on Upfront Magazine- The natural

In the article "The Natural" by Mike Tierny is about a young man that has committed to a goal that he loves. Zach Hodskins was born with out a left arm. He loves basketball and his many disabilities wont stop him from playing.  Hodskins didn't give up, he started playing basketball at age 5 with his father in the driveway. After that he was hooked to basketball. It wasn't easy for him to play, it took lots of practice.  He played on his highschool team and wasn't bad. He is 6'4 and has amazing abilities that he can do with only oone hand.

It wasn't easy for him to play and many people had doubted him. To the people who had doubted him he said, "Just watch."For every pick-up game captain  who didnt choose him". This motivated him to work harder and prove that he can go far.   His father always told him, "Dial it back, You don't have to prove yourself everyday". Zach's family had found two basketball coaches who helped him on his moves. Crossovers and dribbling moves. Hodskins didn't receive a scholarship but he did make the team. Coach Billy Donovan told Hodskins"... you're an inspiration, but you're here because you're a good basketball player".

Zach Hodskins is open with his disability. Most people hide it under there clothing to hide it. Hodskins said "I've never had a problem, These kids need to be themselves, not hide it all there lives". Hodskins didn't hide his disablilty, if he did he wouldn't be himself today. He wouldn;t be able to play in a team and be committed. When people see him play, they think he isn't good. When they see him make a few shots the whole gym wakes up. He loves that, showing people what he can do with one arm, he says he earns respect.

Zach is very committed. There were many challenges he had to take to be who he is today.  People think he couldn't do it and that put lot's of pressure on him.
On top of that he has only one arm and he can only do so much. He proves people everyday. Practices every time on the court. He inspires many people every time he steps on to that court.

Publised Poem

Thamina,
Mymuna,
Atiya,
Muhtasim,

The four cousins never apart,
Just by a year,
our birthdays appear,

One of them is a sister,
The other two are almost,

We played and hung out,
almost everyday,
It became what I would
call the most important
part of the day,

We grew up toghether
in the same household,

We played on the see saw,
That see saw went up and down,
Two on each side,
we were perfect,

Childhood with the cousins
Was the BEST!

Reading Response on Incident

            In the poem, "Incident", by Countee Cullen is about an incident that had happened in old Baltimore. Racism is an issue in this poem and shows how people will be affected by it. A young boy, eight years of age was a victim of racism and  was  hurt. People can be hurt just by saying words, but in this case, the little boy spoke one word and the victim was hurt. This poem made me realize how racism is building up and racism is falling upon younger kids.

            Racism shouldn't be caused by anyone no matter what age they are. In "Incident" it                                             shows that racism is being caused and affected by younger kids. In the poem it states "Now I was eight and very small and he was no whit bigger..." This shows the age of the suspect and how small he is.  Racism  is falling upon younger kids and they are being hurt. The little boy is having a nice day and enjoying it, when he says, " Heart filled, Head filled with Glee", then this other boy comes along and says one word to make his day horrible.

            Racism hurts and when somebody is affected by it stays with them for their whole life. For example, " I saw the whole of Baltimore from may until December, of all the things that happened there, that's all that I remember". This quote shows that when he was affected by racism , he was very hurt by it.  Everything that had happened there, that is all the things he remembers. The words stuck with him his whole life and was very hurt.

            This text made me realize how people all over the world are causing racism and it should be stopped. The age doesn't matter, nobody should be causing it. Racism could lead to other big things that the other victim is feeling. The victim was feeling very bad and if I were in his shoes I wouldn't feel any better. I would be sad and hurt because somebody is judging you on how you were born, and where you came from.

#8: Something that Drives you Crazy?

Something that drive me crazy is my brother. He is 4 years old and in pre k. All he does is watch, eat and sleep. He had a coloring assignment to do for class and i had to finish it for him. He gets what he wants and nobody can do anything about it. When he doesn't get what he wants he will go in a corner and cry and you will just feel bad. One day i was playing online on my ps3 with my friends and he wants to play. He asks me and i say no, this is too violent. He cries and yells and then sees the ps3. I was on a really high level and was excited to beat my score. He goes to the ps3 and presses the off button. At that point i didn't know what to say. He brings my mom over and she yells at me, to give him the ps3. So i do, and then my mom lets him play the shooting game i was playing. He doesn't even know how to play. The next day i played again and gave him a fake controller. He fell for it. When he realized it wasn't, he cried and whined and he closed the ps3. It isn't easy dealing with him. He's the king and where his slaves. He watches TV all day. Day and night, and when he's not watching TV hes on my phone playing games. I think he's using my phone more than i use my phone. It's just not fair dealing with him, he will do anything that he can to get what he wants. Other than all of that he is the BEST!

Reading response: The BFG

     In the book, "The BFG" by Roald Dahl is about a little girl and a Big Friendly Giant. The little girl named Sophie is an orphan. The book is also about Sophie and the BFG saving the world from the disgusting flesh eating giants. In the story the BFG, seems very scary and disgusting, but his personality makes him look like a very nice person. One major theme in this book is people shouldn't judge people for how they look.

     One day Sophie was laying down in bed and couldn't go to sleep. She sees a Big Friendly Giant(BFG), nut thinks he is a horrifying creature. She tries to hide from him but it was too late, the Giant has seen her and taken her from the room. The BFG takes Sophie to the land of the giants. Immediately, Sophie thinks that she will be eaten by the giant. Some how she figures out that the giant is friendly and won't hurt her. The BFG shows her the other nine giant that are bad. They are flesh eating giants that will eat anything. This shows that judging somebody by there appearance isn't a good thing because you won't know how they act. 

     Sophie tries to help the BFG by making all the giants go away. Using the BFG's skills that could make a dream in the queen of England, that would show how bad the other giants are. Also to make it sound real the BfG makes the dream show Sophie in her bedroom when she awakens. When She awakens she knows the Giants are real. That afternoon the BFG comes into the bad giants territory with the army. Soon they were all gone. Sophie had helped the BFG. 

      Judging somebody by there appearance isn't right because that's exactly what Sophie did and soon found out that the Giant was actually very friendly and helpful. And they both became friends and helped each other out. 

Nonfiction Reading Response on Non-fiction Article

     There were many accidents, about being distracted while driving. The article" Help Prevent Distracted Driving" shows that being distracted while driving is very dangerous. The US Department of Transportation's National Highway traffic Safety Administration estimates that 30,000 accidents happen annually because of being distracted while driving. People are  trying to get the message around. I never thought that eating or texting while driving  would be that dangerous, because I've seen any people do it. This article taught me that it is and many people had got injured or died because of this.
   
     A teenage girl is behind the wheel in her convertible and her dad texts her: Turn off the phone. I feel like this is very important and good advice because who knows if someone texts her while driving. People don't only believe that texting while driving is dangerous, also, eating. In a neighborhood, kids have advice on young drivers. A girl stands next to a lemonade stand holding up a sign saying: No Eating While driving. People need to get the message around. Not many people think that being distracted while driving is dangerous. As teens and humans we tend to think that nothing will happen to us behind the wheel. Many people think this and it will be very unexpected when it does.

     I think this article shows a lot about the dangers of being distracted while driving. More than 1,300 students  from grade 6-12 across the US enetered Drive 2life Contest. Each student who submitted an entry has to create a project about tips to prevent being distracted while driving. A girl named Olivia did a prooject on safety signs and she took homme the grand prize of 1,000 dollars.

     After reading this article, I've realized that there are many dangers while being distracted while driving. People are doing a great job of getting the message around. Now I will get a head start of knowing not to be distracted while driving when i get older.